TY - JOUR A1 - Aberle-Malzahn, Nicole A1 - Bauer, Barbara A1 - Lewandowska, A. A1 - Gaedke, Ursula A1 - Sommer, U. T1 - Warming induces shifts in microzooplankton phenology and reduces time-lags between phytoplankton and protozoan production JF - Marine biology : international journal on life in oceans and coastal waters N2 - Indoor mesocosm experiments were conducted to test for potential climate change effects on the spring succession of Baltic Sea plankton. Two different temperature (Delta 0 A degrees C and Delta 6 A degrees C) and three light scenarios (62, 57 and 49 % of the natural surface light intensity on sunny days), mimicking increasing cloudiness as predicted for warmer winters in the Baltic Sea region, were simulated. By combining experimental and modeling approaches, we were able to test for a potential dietary mismatch between phytoplankton and zooplankton. Two general predator-prey models, one representing the community as a tri-trophic food chain and one as a 5-guild food web were applied to test for the consequences of different temperature sensitivities of heterotrophic components of the plankton. During the experiments, we observed reduced time-lags between the peaks of phytoplankton and protozoan biomass in response to warming. Microzooplankton peak biomass was reached by 2.5 day A degrees C-1 earlier and occurred almost synchronously with biomass peaks of phytoplankton in the warm mesocosms (Delta 6 A degrees C). The peak magnitudes of microzooplankton biomass remained unaffected by temperature, and growth rates of microzooplankton were higher at Delta 6 A degrees C (mu(a dagger 0 A degrees C) = 0.12 day(-1) and mu(a dagger 6 A degrees C) = 0.25 day(-1)). Furthermore, warming induced a shift in microzooplankton phenology leading to a faster species turnover and a shorter window of microzooplankton occurrence. Moderate differences in the light levels had no significant effect on the time-lags between autotrophic and heterotrophic biomass and on the timing, biomass maxima and growth rate of microzooplankton biomass. Both models predicted reduced time-lags between the biomass peaks of phytoplankton and its predators (both microzooplankton and copepods) with warming. The reduction of time-lags increased with increasing Q(10) values of copepods and protozoans in the tritrophic food chain. Indirect trophic effects modified this pattern in the 5-guild food web. Our study shows that instead of a mismatch, warming might lead to a stronger match between protist grazers and their prey altering in turn the transfer of matter and energy toward higher trophic levels. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-012-1947-0 SN - 0025-3162 VL - 159 IS - 11 SP - 2441 EP - 2453 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klauschies, Toni A1 - Bauer, Barbara A1 - Aberle-Malzahn, Nicole A1 - Sommer, Ulrich A1 - Gaedke, Ursula T1 - Climate change effects on phytoplankton depend on cell size and food web structure JF - Marine biology : international journal on life in oceans and coastal waters N2 - We investigated the effects of warming on a natural phytoplankton community from the Baltic Sea, based on six mesocosm experiments conducted 2005-2009. We focused on differences in the dynamics of three phytoplankton size groups which are grazed to a variable extent by different zooplankton groups. While small-sized algae were mostly grazer-controlled, light and nutrient availability largely determined the growth of medium- and large-sized algae. Thus, the latter groups dominated at increased light levels. Warming increased mesozooplankton grazing on medium-sized algae, reducing their biomass. The biomass of small-sized algae was not affected by temperature, probably due to an interplay between indirect effects spreading through the food web. Thus, under the higher temperature and lower light levels anticipated for the next decades in the southern Baltic Sea, a higher share of smaller phytoplankton is expected. We conclude that considering the size structure of the phytoplankton community strongly improves the reliability of projections of climate change effects. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-012-1904-y SN - 0025-3162 VL - 159 IS - 11 SP - 2455 EP - 2478 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gaedke, Ursula A1 - Ruhenstroth-Bauer, Miriam A1 - Wiegand, Ina A1 - Tirok, Katrin A1 - Aberle-Malzahn, Nicole A1 - Breithaupt, Petra A1 - Lengfellner, Kathrin A1 - Wohlers, Julia A1 - Sommer, Ulrich T1 - Biotic interactions may overrule direct climate effects on spring phytoplankton dynamics N2 - To improve our mechanistic understanding and predictive capacities with respect to climate change effects on the spring phytoplankton bloom in temperate marine systems, we used a process-driven dynamical model to disentangle the impact of potentially relevant factors which are often correlated in the field. The model was based on comprehensive indoor mesocosm experiments run at four temperature and three light regimes. It was driven by time-series of water temperature and irradiance, considered edible and less edible phytoplankton separately, and accounted for density- dependent grazing losses. It successfully reproduced the observed dynamics of well edible phytoplankton in the different temperature and light treatments. Four major factors influenced spring phytoplankton dynamics: temperature, light (cloudiness), grazing, and the success of overwintering phyto- and zooplankton providing the starting biomasses for spring growth. Our study predicts that increasing cloudiness as anticipated for warmer winters for the Baltic Sea region will retard phytoplankton net growth and reduce peak heights. Light had a strong direct effect in contrast to temperature. However, edible phytoplankton was indirectly strongly temperature-sensitive via grazing which was already important in early spring at moderately high algal biomasses and counter-intuitively provoked lower and later algal peaks at higher temperatures. Initial phyto- and zooplankton composition and biomass also had a strong effect on spring algal dynamics indicating a memory effect via the broadly under-sampled overwintering plankton community. Unexpectedly, increased initial phytoplankton biomass did not necessarily lead to earlier or higher spring blooms since the effect was counteracted by subsequently enhanced grazing. Increasing temperature will likely exhibit complex indirect effects via changes in overwintering phytoplankton and grazer biomasses and current grazing pressure. Additionally, effects on the phytoplankton composition due to the species-specific susceptibility to grazing are expected. Hence, we need to consider not only direct but also indirect effects, e.g. biotic interactions, when addressing climate change impacts. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/issn?DESCRIPTOR=PRINTISSN&VALUE=1354-1013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.02009.x SN - 1354-1013 ER -