Phytoplankton responses to temperature increases are constrained by abiotic conditions and community composition.

Effects of temperature changes on phytoplankton communities seem to be highly context-specific, but few studies have analyzed whether this context specificity depends on differences in the abiotic conditions or in species composition between studies. We present an experiment that allows disentangling the contribution of abiotic and biotic differences in shaping the response to two aspects of temperature change: permanent increase of mean temperature versus pulse disturbance in form of a heat wave. We used natural communities from six different sites of a floodplain system as well as artificially mixed communities from laboratory cultures and grew both, artificial and natural communities, in water from the six different floodplain lakes (sites). All 12 contexts (2 communities × 6 sites) were first exposed to three different temperature levels (12, 18, 24 °C, respectively) and afterward to temperature pulses (4 °C increase for 7 h day(-1)). Temperature-dependent changes in biomass and community composition depended on the initial composition of phytoplankton communities. Abiotic conditions had a major effect on biomass of phytoplankton communities exposed to different temperature conditions, however, the effect of biotic and abiotic conditions together was even more pronounced. Additionally, phytoplankton community responses to pulse temperature effects depended on the warming history. By disentangling abiotic and biotic effects, our study shows that temperature-dependent effects on phytoplankton communities depend on both, biotic and abiotic constraints.

The consequences of internal waves for phytoplankton focusing on the distribution and production of Planktothrix rubescens.

Consequences of internal wave motion for phytoplankton and in particular for the distribution and production of the harmful and buoyant cyanobacterium Planktothrix rubescens were investigated based on data from two field campaigns conducted in Lake Ammer during summer 2009 and 2011. In both years, P. rubescens dominated the phytoplankton community and formed a deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM) in the metalimnion. Internal wave motions caused vertical displacement of P. rubescens of up to 6 m and 10 m, respectively. Vertical displacements of isotherms and of iso-concentration lines of P. rubescens from the same depth range coincided, suggesting that P. rubescens did not or could not regulate its buoyancy to prevent wave-induced vertical displacements. Diatoms dominated the phytoplankton community in the epilimnion and were vertically separated from P. rubescens. The thickness of the diatom layer, but not the diatom concentrations within the layer, changed in phase with the changes in the thickness of the epilimnion caused by internal wave motions. Seiche induced vertical displacements of P. rubescens caused fluctuations in the light intensity available at the depth of the P. rubescens layer. The interplay between seiche induced vertical displacements of the P. rubescens layer and the daily cycle of incident light lead to differences in the daily mean available light intensity between lake ends by up to a factor of ∼3. As a consequence, the daily mean specific oxygen production rate of P. rubescens differed by up to a factor of ∼7 between lake ends. The horizontal differences in the specific oxygen production rate of P. rubescens were persistent over several days suggesting that the associated production of P. rubescens biomass may lead to phytoplankton patchiness. The effect of internal seiches on the spatial heterogeneity and the persistence of horizontal differences in production, however, depend on the timing and the synchronization between internal wave motion and the daily course of incident light intensity. Vertical displacements caused by internal waves could be distinguished from other factors influencing the distribution of P. rubescens (e.g. active buoyancy control, production, vertical mixing) by a temperature-based data transformation. This technique may be of general use for separating wave-induced transport from other processes (e.g. sedimentation, vertical mixing) that affect the distributions of dissolved substances and suspended particles.

Temperature and species richness effects in phytoplankton communities.

Phytoplankton play an important role as primary producers and thus can affect higher trophic levels. Phytoplankton growth and diversity may, besides other factors, be controlled by seasonal temperature changes and increasing water temperatures. In this study, we investigated the combined effects of temperature and diversity on phytoplankton growth. In a controlled laboratory experiment, monocultures of 15 freshwater phytoplankton taxa (green algae, cyanobacteria, and diatoms) as well as 25 mixed communities of different species richness (2-12 species) and taxa composition were exposed to constant temperatures of 12, 18, and 24 °C. Additionally, they were exposed to short-term daily temperature peaks of +4 °C. Increased species richness had a positive effect on phytoplankton growth rates and phosphorous content at all temperature levels, with maximum values occurring at 18 °C. Overyielding was observed at almost all temperature levels and could mostly be explained by complementary traits. Higher temperatures resulted in higher fractions of cyanobacteria in communities. This negative effect of temperature on phytoplankton diversity following a shift in community composition was most obvious in communities adapted to cooler temperatures, pointing to the assumption that relative temperature changes may be more important than absolute ones.

Different mixing techniques in experimental mesocosms-does mixing affect plankton biomass and community composition?

Over the past four decades, mesocosm studies have been successfully used for a wide range of applications and have provided a lot of information on trophic interactions and biogeochemical cycling of aquatic ecosystem. However, the setup of such mesocosms (e.g., dimensions and duration of experiments) needs to be adapted to the relevant biological processes being investigated. Mixing of the water column is an important factor to be considered in mesocosm experiments because enclosing water in an artificial chamber always alters the mixing regime. Various approaches have been applied to generate mixing in experimental ecosystems, including pure mechanical mixing (e.g., using a disc), airlifts, bubbling with compressed air, and pumping. In this study, we tested different mixing techniques for outdoor mesocosms and their impact on plankton biomass and community composition. We compared mesocosms mixed with a disc, an airlift-system, and bubbling, and used a nonactively mixed mesocosm as a control. We investigated phytoplankton, ciliate, and zooplankton communities during a 19-d mesocosm experiment. Based on our results, we concluded that mechanical mixing with a disc was the most effective technique due to the undertow produced by lowering and lifting the disc. While no mixing technique affected seston biomass, zooplankton biomass was highest in the treatments mixed with the disc. The airlift treatments had the lowest relative share of small flagellates. However, no further differences in phytoplankton community composition occurred and no differences in zooplankton community composition existed between all actively mixed treatments.