EFFECTS OF DISSOLVED ORGANIC CARBON (DOC) AND ZOOPLANKTON GRAZING PRESSURE ON BACTERIA AND CILIATES

Download
2021-11-24
Yetim, Sinem
Global climate change results in extreme precipitation events that increase allochthonous organic matter (e.g., dissolved organic carbon, DOC) input into freshwater ecosystems via flooding. While DOC is a source of carbon and energy for heterotrophic organisms in freshwater ecosystems, its bottom-up effects on trophic interactions, and especially on the microbial food web, are poorly understood. Similarly, the top-down effect of contrasting zooplankton traits (i.e., generalist vs. selective) on DOC enriched food webs is also unknown. We compared both the bottom-up effects of DOC types (e.g., leaf-leachate DOC, HuminFeed®) and the top-down effects of zooplankton with contrasting grazing selectivity on the biomass and composition of microbial food webs (i.e., bacteria and ciliates) in a series of laboratory experiment and in-situ mesocosm grazing assays. We predicted that the total biomass of bacteria and ciliates were enhanced by DOC addition, especially with leaf leachate DOC, and reduced by zooplankton. Additionally, we expected that copepods would have higher grazing pressure on ciliates than Daphnia due to grazing mode. We found both DOC types and zooplankton had nonsignificant effect on bacteria biomass. DOC, especially leaf-leachate DOC, had a positive effect on ciliate biomass, while zooplankton had a negative effect. In general, the top down effect was in general stronger than the bottom-up effect and the strongest zooplankton effect was in the copepod – ciliate link. DOC had nonsignificant effect on the functional feeding groups of ciliates, and copepods reduced relative biomass of algivore and nonselective ciliates that was a novel proof of selectivity of copepods.

Suggestions

COMBINED EFFECTS OF DISSOLVED ORGANIC CARBON AND ZOOPLANKTON GRAZING ON PHYTOPLANKTON COMMUNITY
Metin, Melisa; Beklioğlu, Meryem; Ger, Kemal Ali; Department of Biology (2022-6-22)
While global climate change has major impacts on freshwater ecosystems, a mechanistic understanding of these effects on food web dynamics is poorly understood. A key effect of climate change is increased allochthonous dissolved organic carbon (DOC) input to aquatic environments, which serves as an energy source for heterotrophic plankton and alters food web dynamics, and leads brownification. We aimed to link patterns and processes in a plankton ecosystem by comparing the bottom-up effects of DOC (i.e., rec...
Effects of warming and nutrients on the microbial food web in shallow lake mesocosms
Zingel, Priit; Cremona, Fabien; Noges, Tiina; Cao, Yu; Neif, Erika M.; Coppens, Jan; Iskin, Ugur; Lauridsen, Torben L.; Davidson, Thomas A.; Sondergaard, Martin; Beklioğlu, Meryem; Jeppesen, Erik (Elsevier BV, 2018-06-01)
We analysed changes in the abundance, biomass and cell size of the microbial food web community (bacteria, heterotrophic nanoflagellates, ciliates) at contrasting nutrient concentrations and temperatures during a simulated heat wave. We used 24 mesocosms mimicking shallow lakes in which two nutrient levels (unenriched and enriched by adding nitrogen and phosphorus) and three different temperature scenarios (ambient, IPCC A2 scenario and A2+%50) are simulated (4 replicates of each). Experiments using the mes...
Turning up the heat: warming influences plankton biomass and spring phenology in subtropical waters characterized by extensive fish omnivory
He, Hu; Li, Qisheng; Li, Jing; Han, Yanqing; Cao, Yu; Liu, Wei; Yu, Jinlei; Li, Kuanyi; Liu, Zhengwen; Jeppesen, Erik (2020-10-01)
Understanding how biological communities respond to climate change is a major challenge in ecology. The response of ectotherms to changes in temperature depends not only on their species-specific thermal tolerances but also on temperature-mediated interactions across different trophic levels. Warming is predicted to reinforce trophic cascades in linear aquatic food chains, but little is known about how warming might affect the lower trophic levels of food webs involving extensive fish omnivory, a common sce...
Factors influencing nitrogen processing in lakes: an experimental approach
Olsen, Saara; Jeppesen,Jeppesen, Erik,Erik; Moss, Brian; Özkan, Korhan; Beklioğlu, Meryem; Feuchtmayr, Heidrun; Gonzalez Sagrario, Maria; Wei,Wei, Li,Li; Larsen, Soren; Lauridsen, Torben S.; Sondergaard, Martin (2015-04-01)
To help improve our understanding of the nitrogen cycle in lakes, particularly in the context of climate change, we analysed total nitrogen (TN) and nitrate (NO3--N) data from six mesocosm experiments (in Denmark, U.K., China and Turkey) covering different climatic regions. We assessed the effects of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) loading, temperature, salinity and water level on N processing. Water column N loss (defined as the nitrogen processed in and lost from the water column in units of net amount pr...
Influence of Farming Intensity and Climate on Lowland Stream Nitrogen
Goyenola, Guillermo; Graeber, Daniel; Meerhof, Mariana; Jeppesen, Erik; Teixeira-de Mello, Franco; Vidal, Nicolás; Fosalba, Claudia; Ovesen, Niels Bering; Gelbrecht, Joerg; Mazzeo, Néstor; Kronvang, Brian (MDPI AG, 2020-4-2)
Nitrogen lost from agriculture has altered the geochemistry of the biosphere, with pronounced impacts on aquatic ecosystems. We aim to elucidate the patterns and driving factors behind the N fluxes in lowland stream ecosystems differing about land-use and climatic-hydrological conditions. The climate-hydrology areas represented humid cold temperate/stable discharge conditions, and humid subtropical climate/flashy conditions. Three complementary monitoring sampling characteristics were selected, including a ...
Citation Formats
S. Yetim, “EFFECTS OF DISSOLVED ORGANIC CARBON (DOC) AND ZOOPLANKTON GRAZING PRESSURE ON BACTERIA AND CILIATES,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2021.