Future climate scenarios for a coastal productive planktonic food web resulting in microplankton phenology changes and decreased trophic transfer efficiency

PLoS One. 2014 Apr 10;9(4):e94388. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0094388. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

We studied the effects of future climate change scenarios on plankton communities of a Norwegian fjord using a mesocosm approach. After the spring bloom, natural plankton were enclosed and treated in duplicates with inorganic nutrients elevated to pre-bloom conditions (N, P, Si; eutrophication), lowering of 0.4 pH units (acidification), and rising 3°C temperature (warming). All nutrient-amended treatments resulted in phytoplankton blooms dominated by chain-forming diatoms, and reached 13-16 μg chlorophyll (chl) a l-1. In the control mesocosms, chl a remained below 1 μg l-1. Acidification and warming had contrasting effects on the phenology and bloom-dynamics of autotrophic and heterotrophic microplankton. Bacillariophyceae, prymnesiophyceae, cryptophyta, and Protoperidinium spp. peaked earlier at higher temperature and lower pH. Chlorophyta showed lower peak abundances with acidification, but higher peak abundances with increased temperature. The peak magnitude of autotrophic dinophyceae and ciliates was, on the other hand, lowered with combined warming and acidification. Over time, the plankton communities shifted from autotrophic phytoplankton blooms to a more heterotrophic system in all mesocosms, especially in the control unaltered mesocosms. The development of mass balance and proportion of heterotrophic/autotrophic biomass predict a shift towards a more autotrophic community and less-efficient food web transfer when temperature, nutrients and acidification are combined in a future climate-change scenario. We suggest that this result may be related to a lower food quality for microzooplankton under acidification and warming scenarios and to an increase of catabolic processes compared to anabolic ones at higher temperatures.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biomass
  • Chlorophyll / biosynthesis
  • Chlorophyll A
  • Ciliophora / physiology*
  • Climate
  • Climate Change
  • Diatoms / physiology*
  • Dinoflagellida / physiology*
  • Eutrophication
  • Food Chain
  • Forecasting
  • Heterotrophic Processes
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Models, Statistical*
  • Norway
  • Phytoplankton / physiology*
  • Temperature

Substances

  • Chlorophyll
  • Chlorophyll A

Grants and funding

This research was funded through the projects BIOPUMP (EMT) and CYCLE from MESOAQUA -EU FP7-INFRA-2008-1, 228224 to (M. Winder & group members), the Norwegian Research Council grant NFR-HK 2024040/E40 (EMT), the project PROTOS (CTM2009-08783), and TopCop (CTM2011-23480) from the Ministry of Science and Innovation (AC). HHJ received financial support from the VELUX foundation (grant VKR022608). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.