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Zooplankton response to climate warming: a mesocosm experiment at contrasting temperatures and nutrient levels

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Abstract

Zooplankton community response to the combined effects of nutrients and fish (hereafter N + F) at contrasting temperatures was studied in a long-term experiment conducted in 24 shallow lake mesocosms with low and high nutrient levels. We found a positive effect of N + F on zooplankton biomass, chlorophyll-a and turbidity. In contrast, zooplankton species and size diversity decreased with added N + F, as did submerged macrophyte plant volume inhabited (PVI). The community composition of zooplankton in high N + F mesocosms was related to chlorophyll-a and turbidity and to macrophyte PVI in the low N + F mesocosms. Macrophytes can protect zooplankton from fish predation. Compared to N + F effects, temperature appeared to have little effect on the zooplankton community. Yet analysis of community heterogeneity among treatments indicated a significant temperature effect at high N + F levels. The results indicate an indirect temperature effect at high N + F levels that can be attributed to temperature-dependent variation in fish density and/or chlorophyll-a concentration.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the REFRESH project (Adaptive strategies to Mitigate the Impacts of Climate Change on European Freshwater Ecosystems) funded under the 7th EU Framework Programme, Theme 6, Contract No. 244121, the MARS project (Managing Aquatic ecosystems and water Resources under multiple Stress) funded under the 7th EU Framework Programme, Theme 6 (Environment including Climate Change), Contract No. 603378 (http://www.mars-project.eu), CLEAR2 (a Villum Kann Centre of Excellence project), CIRCE and CRES. We thank Anne Mette Poulsen for language improvements. SB’s contribution was supported by Marie Curie Intra European Fellowship No. 330249 (CLIMBING).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic

    Michal Šorf

  2. Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Silkeborg, Denmark

    Thomas A. Davidson, Sandra Brucet, Rosemberg F. Menezes, Martin Søndergaard, Torben L. Lauridsen, Frank Landkildehus, Lone Liboriussen & Erik Jeppesen

  3. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Vic, Vic, Spain

    Sandra Brucet

  4. Departamento de Ecologia, Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

    Rosemberg F. Menezes

  5. Sino-Danish Centre for Education and Research (SDC), Beijing, China

    Torben L. Lauridsen & Erik Jeppesen

  6. Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Thomas A. Davidson, Torben L. Lauridsen & Erik Jeppesen

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  1. Michal Šorf
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  2. Thomas A. Davidson
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  3. Sandra Brucet
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  4. Rosemberg F. Menezes
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  9. Erik Jeppesen
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Šorf, M., Davidson, T.A., Brucet, S. et al. Zooplankton response to climate warming: a mesocosm experiment at contrasting temperatures and nutrient levels. Hydrobiologia 742, 185–203 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-014-1985-3

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