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.
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Acknowledgments
We thank the National Science Foundation (NSF) for support of the North Temperate Lakes Long-Term Ecological Research site (DEB 0217533) and the staff of the Trout Lake field station for research support. Two reviewers provided constructive comments that improved this manuscript. This paper is a contribution to the Center for Limnology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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In fond memory of Professor Stanley I. Dodson.
Guest editors: L. Naselli-Flores & G. Rossetti / Fifty years after the “Homage to Santa Rosalia”: Old and new paradigms on biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems
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Preston, N.D., Rusak, J.A. Homage to Hutchinson: does inter-annual climate variability affect zooplankton density and diversity?. Hydrobiologia 653, 165–177 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-010-0352-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-010-0352-2