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An indoor mesocosm system to study the effect of climate change on the late winter and spring succession of Baltic Sea phyto- and zooplankton

  • Global Change and Conversation Ecology
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Abstract

An indoor mesocosm system was set up to study the response of phytoplankton and zooplankton spring succession to winter and spring warming of sea surface temperatures. The experimental temperature regimes consisted of the decadal average of the Kiel Bight, Baltic Sea, and three elevated regimes with 2°C, 4°C, and 6°C temperature difference from that at baseline. While the peak of the phytoplankton spring bloom was accelerated only weakly by increasing temperatures (1.4 days per degree Celsius), the subsequent biomass minimum of phytoplankton was accelerated more strongly (4.25 days per degree Celsius). Phytoplankton size structure showed a pronounced response to warming, with large phytoplankton being more dominant in the cooler mesocosms. The first seasonal ciliate peak was accelerated by 2.1 days per degree Celsius and the second one by 2.0 days per degree Celsius. The over-wintering copepod populations declined faster in the warmer mesocosm, and the appearance of nauplii was strongly accelerated by temperature (9.2 days per degree Celsius). The strong difference between the acceleration of the phytoplankton peak and the acceleration of the nauplii could be one of the “Achilles heels” of pelagic systems subject to climate change, because nauplii are the most starvation-sensitive life cycle stage of copepods and the most important food item of first-feeding fish larvae.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) within the priority program 1162 “AQUASHIFT” (The impact of climate variability on aquatic ecosystems). Constructive comments by Herwig Stibor and one anonymous reviewer are gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz Institute for Marine Sciences, Kiel University, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105, Kiel, Germany

    Ulrich Sommer, Nicole Aberle, Thomas Hansen, Kathrin Lengfellner, Marcel Sandow, Julia Wohlers, Eckart Zöllner & Ulf Riebesell

  2. Alfred Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven, Germany

    Anja Engel

Authors
  1. Ulrich Sommer
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  2. Nicole Aberle
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  3. Anja Engel
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  4. Thomas Hansen
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  5. Kathrin Lengfellner
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  6. Marcel Sandow
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  7. Julia Wohlers
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  8. Eckart Zöllner
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  9. Ulf Riebesell
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Correspondence to Ulrich Sommer.

Additional information

Communicated by Roland Brandl.

Priority programme of the German Research Foundation—contribution 3.

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Sommer, U., Aberle, N., Engel, A. et al. An indoor mesocosm system to study the effect of climate change on the late winter and spring succession of Baltic Sea phyto- and zooplankton. Oecologia 150, 655–667 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-006-0539-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-006-0539-4

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