Climate change and eutrophication induced shifts in northern summer plankton communities.
Marine ecosystems are undergoing substantial changes due to human-induced pressures. Analysis of long-term data series is a valuable tool for understanding naturally and anthropogenically induced changes in plankton communities. In the present study, seasonal monitoring data were collected in three...
| 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/PMC3680480?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1818621504803307520 |
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| author | Sanna Suikkanen Silvia Pulina Jonna Engström-Öst Maiju Lehtiniemi Sirpa Lehtinen Andreas Brutemark |
| author_facet | Sanna Suikkanen Silvia Pulina Jonna Engström-Öst Maiju Lehtiniemi Sirpa Lehtinen Andreas Brutemark |
| author_sort | Sanna Suikkanen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Marine ecosystems are undergoing substantial changes due to human-induced pressures. Analysis of long-term data series is a valuable tool for understanding naturally and anthropogenically induced changes in plankton communities. In the present study, seasonal monitoring data were collected in three sub-basins of the northern Baltic Sea between 1979 and 2011 and statistically analysed for trends and interactions between surface water hydrography, inorganic nutrient concentrations and phyto- and zooplankton community composition. The most conspicuous hydrographic change was a significant increase in late summer surface water temperatures over the study period. In addition, salinity decreased and dissolved inorganic nutrient concentrations increased in some basins. Based on redundancy analysis (RDA), warming was the key environmental factor explaining the observed changes in plankton communities: the general increase in total phytoplankton biomass, Cyanophyceae, Prymnesiophyceae and Chrysophyceae, and decrease in Cryptophyceae throughout the study area, as well as increase in rotifers and decrease in total zooplankton, cladoceran and copepod abundances in some basins. We conclude that the plankton communities in the Baltic Sea have shifted towards a food web structure with smaller sized organisms, leading to decreased energy available for grazing zooplankton and planktivorous fish. The shift is most probably due to complex interactions between warming, eutrophication and increased top-down pressure due to overexploitation of resources, and the resulting trophic cascades. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-16T18:10:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bb7fd9f144b047a197eb5cb961cfe9fe |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-16T18:10:20Z |
| publishDate | 2013-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-bb7fd9f144b047a197eb5cb961cfe9fe2022-12-21T22:21:48ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032013-01-0186e6647510.1371/journal.pone.0066475Climate change and eutrophication induced shifts in northern summer plankton communities.Sanna SuikkanenSilvia PulinaJonna Engström-ÖstMaiju LehtiniemiSirpa LehtinenAndreas BrutemarkMarine ecosystems are undergoing substantial changes due to human-induced pressures. Analysis of long-term data series is a valuable tool for understanding naturally and anthropogenically induced changes in plankton communities. In the present study, seasonal monitoring data were collected in three sub-basins of the northern Baltic Sea between 1979 and 2011 and statistically analysed for trends and interactions between surface water hydrography, inorganic nutrient concentrations and phyto- and zooplankton community composition. The most conspicuous hydrographic change was a significant increase in late summer surface water temperatures over the study period. In addition, salinity decreased and dissolved inorganic nutrient concentrations increased in some basins. Based on redundancy analysis (RDA), warming was the key environmental factor explaining the observed changes in plankton communities: the general increase in total phytoplankton biomass, Cyanophyceae, Prymnesiophyceae and Chrysophyceae, and decrease in Cryptophyceae throughout the study area, as well as increase in rotifers and decrease in total zooplankton, cladoceran and copepod abundances in some basins. We conclude that the plankton communities in the Baltic Sea have shifted towards a food web structure with smaller sized organisms, leading to decreased energy available for grazing zooplankton and planktivorous fish. The shift is most probably due to complex interactions between warming, eutrophication and increased top-down pressure due to overexploitation of resources, and the resulting trophic cascades.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3680480?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Sanna Suikkanen Silvia Pulina Jonna Engström-Öst Maiju Lehtiniemi Sirpa Lehtinen Andreas Brutemark Climate change and eutrophication induced shifts in northern summer plankton communities. PLoS ONE |
| title | Climate change and eutrophication induced shifts in northern summer plankton communities. |
| title_full | Climate change and eutrophication induced shifts in northern summer plankton communities. |
| title_fullStr | Climate change and eutrophication induced shifts in northern summer plankton communities. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate change and eutrophication induced shifts in northern summer plankton communities. |
| title_short | Climate change and eutrophication induced shifts in northern summer plankton communities. |
| title_sort | climate change and eutrophication induced shifts in northern summer plankton communities |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3680480?pdf=render |
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