Erik Jeppesen

TY - JOUR

T1 - Salinity shapes zooplankton communities and functional diversity and has complex effects on size structure in lakes

AU - Florencia Gutierrez, Maria

AU - Tavsanoglu, Ulku Nihan

AU - Vidal, Nicolas

AU - Yu, Jinlei

AU - Teixeira-de Mello, Franco

AU - Cakiroglu, Ayse Idil

AU - He, Hu

AU - Liu, Zhengwen

AU - Jeppesen, Erik

PY - 2018/5

Y1 - 2018/5

N2 - Changes in zooplankton community structure and function were analyzed in 24 lakes covering a wide salinity gradient (from 0.5 to 115 g l(-1)) in a semiarid region in northwest China. We hypothesized that species richness (S), species diversity (H), functional diversity (FD), biomass, and size of zooplankton would decrease with increasing salinity. We found that S, H, and FD did decrease with increasing salinity, whereas zooplankton sizes, size range, and biomasses did not. In fact, the sizes of microcrustaceans were mainly regulated by the abundance of small fish. Besides the impoverishment of FD, the zooplankton functional groups also varied along the salinity gradient. A shift occurred from selective raptorial to more generalist microphagous rotifers, from selective to more generalist filter feeder cladocerans, and from dominance of microphagous herbivorous copepods to microphagous carnivores. Our study indicates that the ongoing salinization of lakes with climate warming will result in important changes in the zooplankton, affecting not only the structure but also the functioning of this community. A weakened top-down control by zooplankton on phytoplankton at moderate high salinities may be an indirect consequence, leading to a worsening of eutrophication symptoms. Loss of fish at high salinities may, however, counteract this effect.

AB - Changes in zooplankton community structure and function were analyzed in 24 lakes covering a wide salinity gradient (from 0.5 to 115 g l(-1)) in a semiarid region in northwest China. We hypothesized that species richness (S), species diversity (H), functional diversity (FD), biomass, and size of zooplankton would decrease with increasing salinity. We found that S, H, and FD did decrease with increasing salinity, whereas zooplankton sizes, size range, and biomasses did not. In fact, the sizes of microcrustaceans were mainly regulated by the abundance of small fish. Besides the impoverishment of FD, the zooplankton functional groups also varied along the salinity gradient. A shift occurred from selective raptorial to more generalist microphagous rotifers, from selective to more generalist filter feeder cladocerans, and from dominance of microphagous herbivorous copepods to microphagous carnivores. Our study indicates that the ongoing salinization of lakes with climate warming will result in important changes in the zooplankton, affecting not only the structure but also the functioning of this community. A weakened top-down control by zooplankton on phytoplankton at moderate high salinities may be an indirect consequence, leading to a worsening of eutrophication symptoms. Loss of fish at high salinities may, however, counteract this effect.

KW - Functional classification

KW - Salinity gradient

KW - Taxon diversity

KW - Taxon richness

KW - Zooplankton size

KW - CLIMATE-CHANGE

KW - CRUSTACEAN ZOOPLANKTON

KW - ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION

KW - SPECIES-DIVERSITY

KW - TROPHIC STRUCTURE

KW - BRACKISH LAGOONS

KW - SHALLOW LAKES

KW - SALT LAKES

KW - BODY-SIZE

KW - LONG-TERM

U2 - 10.1007/s10750-018-3529-8

DO - 10.1007/s10750-018-3529-8

M3 - Journal article

VL - 813

SP - 237

EP - 255

JO - Journal of Applied Phycology

JF - Journal of Applied Phycology

SN - 0921-8971

IS - 1

ER -