Seasonal and spatial functional shifts in phytoplankton communities of five tropical reservoirs
- Trait-based approaches have become increasingly important and valuable in understanding phytoplankton community assembly and composition. These approaches allow for comparisons between water bodies with different species composition. We hypothesize that similar changes in environmental conditions lead to similar responses with regard to functional traits of phytoplankton communities, regardless of trophic state or species composition. We studied the phytoplankton (species composition, community trait mean and diversity) of five reservoirs in Brazil along a trophic gradient from ultra-oligotrophic to meso-eutrophic. Samples at two seasons (summer/rainy and winter/dry) with a horizontal and vertical resolution were taken. Using multivariate analysis, the five reservoirs separated, despite some overlap, according to their environmental variables (mainly total phosphorus, conductivity, pH, chlorophyll a). However, between the seasonal periods, the reservoirs shifted in a similar direction in the multi-dimensional space. The seasonalTrait-based approaches have become increasingly important and valuable in understanding phytoplankton community assembly and composition. These approaches allow for comparisons between water bodies with different species composition. We hypothesize that similar changes in environmental conditions lead to similar responses with regard to functional traits of phytoplankton communities, regardless of trophic state or species composition. We studied the phytoplankton (species composition, community trait mean and diversity) of five reservoirs in Brazil along a trophic gradient from ultra-oligotrophic to meso-eutrophic. Samples at two seasons (summer/rainy and winter/dry) with a horizontal and vertical resolution were taken. Using multivariate analysis, the five reservoirs separated, despite some overlap, according to their environmental variables (mainly total phosphorus, conductivity, pH, chlorophyll a). However, between the seasonal periods, the reservoirs shifted in a similar direction in the multi-dimensional space. The seasonal response of the overall phytoplankton community trait mean differed between the ultra-oligotrophic and the other reservoirs, with three reservoirs exhibiting a very similar community trait mean despite considerable differences in species composition. Within-season differences between different water layers were low. The functional diversity was also unrelated to the trophic state of the reservoirs. Thus, seasonal environmental changes had strong influence on the functional characteristics of the phytoplankton community in reservoirs with distinct trophic condition and species composition. These results demonstrate that an ataxonomic trait-based approach is a relevant tool for comparative studies in phytoplankton ecology.…
Verfasserangaben: | Lucineide Maria Santana, Guntram WeithoffORCiDGND, Carla FerragutORCiD |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-017-9634-3 |
ISSN: | 1386-2588 |
ISSN: | 1573-5125 |
Titel des übergeordneten Werks (Englisch): | Aquatic ecology : the international forum covering research in freshwater and marine environments |
Verlag: | Springer |
Verlagsort: | Dordrecht |
Publikationstyp: | Wissenschaftlicher Artikel |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Jahr der Erstveröffentlichung: | 2017 |
Erscheinungsjahr: | 2017 |
Datum der Freischaltung: | 20.04.2020 |
Freies Schlagwort / Tag: | Diversity indices; Functional traits; Plankton; Seasonality; Tropical system |
Band: | 51 |
Seitenanzahl: | 13 |
Erste Seite: | 531 |
Letzte Seite: | 543 |
Fördernde Institution: | Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP) [2011/24000-4]; FAPESP [2009/53898-9] |
Organisationseinheiten: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Biochemie und Biologie |
Peer Review: | Referiert |