Phytoplankton cell size reduction in response to warming mediated by nutrient limitation.
Shrinking of body size has been proposed as one of the universal responses of organisms to global climate warming. Using phytoplankton as an experimental model system has supported the negative effect of warming on body-size, but it remains controversial whether the size reduction under increasing t...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2013-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3764198?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1818487007857344512 |
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| author | Kalista Higini Peter Ulrich Sommer |
| author_facet | Kalista Higini Peter Ulrich Sommer |
| author_sort | Kalista Higini Peter |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Shrinking of body size has been proposed as one of the universal responses of organisms to global climate warming. Using phytoplankton as an experimental model system has supported the negative effect of warming on body-size, but it remains controversial whether the size reduction under increasing temperatures is a direct temperature effect or an indirect effect mediated over changes in size selective grazing or enhanced nutrient limitation which should favor smaller cell-sizes. Here we present an experiment with a factorial combination of temperature and nutrient stress which shows that most of the temperature effects on phytoplankton cell size are mediated via nutrient stress. This was found both for community mean cell size and for the cell sizes of most species analyzed. At the highest level of nutrient stress, community mean cell size decreased by 46% per °C, while it decreased only by 4.7% at the lowest level of nutrient stress. Individual species showed qualitatively the same trend, but shrinkage per °C was smaller. Overall, our results support the hypothesis that temperature effects on cell size are to a great extent mediated by nutrient limitation. This effect is expected to be exacerbated under field conditions, where higher temperatures of the surface waters reduce the vertical nutrient transport. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T16:31:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-19c66501e150428e8bbadd9f619d93e4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T16:31:21Z |
| publishDate | 2013-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-19c66501e150428e8bbadd9f619d93e42022-12-22T01:41:31ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032013-01-0189e7152810.1371/journal.pone.0071528Phytoplankton cell size reduction in response to warming mediated by nutrient limitation.Kalista Higini PeterUlrich SommerShrinking of body size has been proposed as one of the universal responses of organisms to global climate warming. Using phytoplankton as an experimental model system has supported the negative effect of warming on body-size, but it remains controversial whether the size reduction under increasing temperatures is a direct temperature effect or an indirect effect mediated over changes in size selective grazing or enhanced nutrient limitation which should favor smaller cell-sizes. Here we present an experiment with a factorial combination of temperature and nutrient stress which shows that most of the temperature effects on phytoplankton cell size are mediated via nutrient stress. This was found both for community mean cell size and for the cell sizes of most species analyzed. At the highest level of nutrient stress, community mean cell size decreased by 46% per °C, while it decreased only by 4.7% at the lowest level of nutrient stress. Individual species showed qualitatively the same trend, but shrinkage per °C was smaller. Overall, our results support the hypothesis that temperature effects on cell size are to a great extent mediated by nutrient limitation. This effect is expected to be exacerbated under field conditions, where higher temperatures of the surface waters reduce the vertical nutrient transport.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3764198?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Kalista Higini Peter Ulrich Sommer Phytoplankton cell size reduction in response to warming mediated by nutrient limitation. PLoS ONE |
| title | Phytoplankton cell size reduction in response to warming mediated by nutrient limitation. |
| title_full | Phytoplankton cell size reduction in response to warming mediated by nutrient limitation. |
| title_fullStr | Phytoplankton cell size reduction in response to warming mediated by nutrient limitation. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Phytoplankton cell size reduction in response to warming mediated by nutrient limitation. |
| title_short | Phytoplankton cell size reduction in response to warming mediated by nutrient limitation. |
| title_sort | phytoplankton cell size reduction in response to warming mediated by nutrient limitation |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3764198?pdf=render |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kalistahiginipeter phytoplanktoncellsizereductioninresponsetowarmingmediatedbynutrientlimitation AT ulrichsommer phytoplanktoncellsizereductioninresponsetowarmingmediatedbynutrientlimitation |