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Homage to Hutchinson: does inter-annual climate variability affect zooplankton density and diversity?
- Source :
-
Hydrobiologia . Oct2010, Vol. 653 Issue 1, p165-177. 13p. 4 Charts, 4 Graphs. - Publication Year :
- 2010
-
Abstract
- G. Evelyn Hutchinson proposed that external control by climate limits the fundamental productivity and the possible diversity of ecological communities. These climatic drivers are currently changing as a result of human activity, which may herald a shift in the influence of climate on global ecosystems. Long-term records reveal a reduction in ice cover on northern lakes over the last several centuries. Hence, we explore whether inter-annual climatic variability, represented by ice cover, influences the productivity and diversity of zooplankton communities in long-term datasets for five lakes in Northern Wisconsin. We used a multilevel modeling approach to test three predictions: (1) density will increase, (2) diversity will increase, and (3) community composition will be altered. We found an inverse relationship between ice-off date and annual zooplankton density. Daphnia density, for example, was inversely related to ice-off date, with 10-fold variability across the gradient of ice-off dates in Northern Wisconsin. In contrast, we did not observe a consistent shift in diversity or community structure. Thus, from ice cover records of northern lakes we found support for Hutchinson’s idea that external climatic forces may regulate aquatic productivity; however, the response was numeric and we did not find evidence that lakes moved closer to maximum diversity on an inter-annual scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00188158
- Volume :
- 653
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Hydrobiologia
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 52288779
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-010-0352-2