Abstract:Aim Studies on biological communities that take into account only the species composition and abundances (or biomass) and their relative contributions, most of the time, do not reflect their ecological functions, especially considering the wide spatial and temporal variation of large shallow lakes. This paper aimed at evaluating the influence of environmental spatial and temporal heterogeneity on the functional structure of phytoplankton in a subtropical large shallow lake. Methods Seasonal samplings were c… Show more
“…We also need to consider the appropriate time scale when studying phytoplankton since the occurrence of a windy day, the establishment of a temporary thermocline (Søndergaard et al, 2022), the very variable annual hydrological cycle of closed-basin lakes (Lengyel et al, 2019) or the lake-wetland habitats (Crossetti et al, 2007) may strongly alter the composition and succession pattern of phytoplankton assemblages and confound our analyses.…”
Section: What We Can Do To Fill Gaps In Our Knowledgementioning
Understanding the dynamics of phytoplankton assemblages in various and variable aquatic ecosystems is of paramount importance, given the strategic supporting services offered by these organisms. Such knowledge is implicitly based on the analysis of the realized niche of the different populations, i.e. of the sets of conditions within which populations show a positive growth. The range of phytoplankton morphological traits variability is evolutionarily selected to maximize the ecological performance of species while they are entrained in the spectrum of turbulent flows. In addition, most phytoplankton species exhibit high morphological plasticity that can further optimize their performance under reduced environmental variability. Although this plasticity is well known, it is seldom considered in phytoplankton studies. Morphological analysis could therefore be used as a tool to estimate the environmental variability within which a species can persist and, ultimately, the niche width of phytoplankton populations. This opinion paper tries to answer the questions: to what extent can the morphological variability of phytoplankton offer a synthesis of the environmental variability of aquatic ecosystems?. Do the morphological traits contain sufficient information to describe the width of the realized niche of phytoplankton species? What can we do to fill eventual gaps in our knowledge?
“…We also need to consider the appropriate time scale when studying phytoplankton since the occurrence of a windy day, the establishment of a temporary thermocline (Søndergaard et al, 2022), the very variable annual hydrological cycle of closed-basin lakes (Lengyel et al, 2019) or the lake-wetland habitats (Crossetti et al, 2007) may strongly alter the composition and succession pattern of phytoplankton assemblages and confound our analyses.…”
Section: What We Can Do To Fill Gaps In Our Knowledgementioning
Understanding the dynamics of phytoplankton assemblages in various and variable aquatic ecosystems is of paramount importance, given the strategic supporting services offered by these organisms. Such knowledge is implicitly based on the analysis of the realized niche of the different populations, i.e. of the sets of conditions within which populations show a positive growth. The range of phytoplankton morphological traits variability is evolutionarily selected to maximize the ecological performance of species while they are entrained in the spectrum of turbulent flows. In addition, most phytoplankton species exhibit high morphological plasticity that can further optimize their performance under reduced environmental variability. Although this plasticity is well known, it is seldom considered in phytoplankton studies. Morphological analysis could therefore be used as a tool to estimate the environmental variability within which a species can persist and, ultimately, the niche width of phytoplankton populations. This opinion paper tries to answer the questions: to what extent can the morphological variability of phytoplankton offer a synthesis of the environmental variability of aquatic ecosystems?. Do the morphological traits contain sufficient information to describe the width of the realized niche of phytoplankton species? What can we do to fill eventual gaps in our knowledge?
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