Warming modifies trophic cascades and eutrophication in experimental freshwater communities

Climate warming is occurring in concert with other anthropogenic changes to ecosystems. However, it is unknown whether and how warming alters the importance of top-down vs. bottom-up control over community productivity and variability. We performed a 16-month factorial experimental manipulation of w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology (Durham) 2012-06, Vol.93 (6), p.1421-1430
Main Authors: Kratina, Pavel, Greig, Hamish S, Thompson, Patrick L, Carvalho-Pereira, Ticiana S. A, Shurin, Jonathan B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algae
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Biomass
climate warming
Climatology. Bioclimatology. Climate change
Communities
community structure
Earth, ocean, space
Ecology
Ecosystem
Eutrophication
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
Fish
Food Chain
food webs
Fresh Water
Freshwater ecology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Global Warming
indirect and direct temperature effects
Marine ecology
metabolic rates
Meteorology
Phytoplankton
Plankton
Plankton - cytology
Plankton - physiology
press perturbations
productivity
Smegmamorpha - physiology
Synecology
Temperature
temporal variability
Time Factors
trophic interactions
Trophic relationships
Zooplankton
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Summary:Climate warming is occurring in concert with other anthropogenic changes to ecosystems. However, it is unknown whether and how warming alters the importance of top-down vs. bottom-up control over community productivity and variability. We performed a 16-month factorial experimental manipulation of warming, nutrient enrichment, and predator presence in replicated freshwater pond mesocosms to test their independent and interactive impacts. Warming strengthened trophic cascades from fish to primary producers, and it decreased the impact of eutrophication on the mean and temporal variation of phytoplankton biomass. These impacts varied seasonally, with higher temperatures leading to stronger trophic cascades in winter and weaker algae blooms under eutrophication in summer. Our results suggest that higher temperatures may shift the control of primary production in freshwater ponds toward stronger top-down and weaker bottom-up effects. The dampened temporal variability of algal biomass under eutrophication at higher temperatures suggests that warming may stabilize some ecosystem processes.
ISSN:0012-9658
1939-9170
DOI:10.1890/11-1595.1