Climate change and the phytoplankton spring bloom: warming and overwintering zooplankton have similar effects on phytoplankton

Title
Climate change and the phytoplankton spring bloom: warming and overwintering zooplankton have similar effects on phytoplankton
Publication Type
Journal Article
Year of Publication
2011
Authors

Sommer U, Lewandowska A

Journal
Global Change Biology
Volume
17
Pagination
154-162
ISBN Number
Keywords

climate change, mesocosm, phytoplankton, spring bloom, Zooplankton, Kiel, 1.4 m3, Germany

Abstract

Indoor mesocosms were used to study the combined effect of warming and of different densities of overwinteringmesozooplankton (mainly copepods) on the spring development of phytoplankton in shallow, coastal waters. Similarto previous studies, warming accelerated the spring phytoplankton peak by ca. 1 day 1C 1 whereas zooplankton didnot significantly influence timing. Phytoplankton biomass during the experimental period decreased with warmingand with higher densities of overwintering zooplankton. Similarly, average cell size and average effective particle size(here: colony size) decreased both with zooplankton density and warming. A decrease in phytoplankton particle sizeis generally considered at typical footprint of copepod grazing. We conclude that warming induced changes in themagnitude and structure of the phytoplankton spring bloom cannot be understood without considering grazing byoverwintering zooplankton.

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