Shape matters: the relationship between cell geometry and diversity in phytoplankton

Ryabov, Alexey; Kerimoglu, Onur; Litchman, Elena; Olenina, Irina; Roselli, Leonilde; Basset, Alberto; Stanca, Elena; Blasius, Bernd

doi:10.1111/ele.13680

Cited by 58 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 71 publications

(120 reference statements)

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“…Another consequence of altered size structure we expect is changes in biodiversity and morphological composition of phytoplankton, as the size of unicellular algae is closely related to the diversity of species and cell shapes (Ryabov et al 2021). Cells of intermediate volume (1000 to 10,000 μm 3 ) comprise the greatest species and morphological diversity, including a full range from flat to externally elongated cell shapes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal declines in Wadden Sea phytoplankton cell volumes observed within and across species

Hillebrand

Carvalho

Dajka

et al. 2021

Limnology & Oceanography

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Cell size is a master trait in the functional ecology of phytoplankton correlating with numerous morphological, physiological, and life-cycle characteristics of species that constrain their nutrient use, growth, and edibility. In contrast to well-known spatial patterns in cell size at macroecological scales or temporal changes in experimental contexts, few data sets allow testing temporal changes in cell sizes within ecosystems. To analyze the temporal changes of intraspecific and community-wide cell size, we use the phytoplankton data derived from the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea monitoring program, which comprises sample-and species-specific measurements of cell volume from 1710 samples collected over 14 yr. We find significant reductions in both the cell volume of most species and the weighted mean cell size of communities. Mainly diatoms showed this decline, whereas the size of dinoflagellates seemed to be less responsive. The magnitude of the trend indicates that cell volumes are about 30% smaller now than a decade ago. This interannual trend is overlayed by seasonal cycles with smaller cells typically observed in summer. In the subset of samples including environmental conditions, small community cell size was strongly related to high temperatures and low total phosphorus concentration. We conclude that cell size captures ongoing changes in phytoplankton communities beyond the changes in species composition. In addition, based on the changes in species biovolumes revealed by our analysis, we warn that using standard cell size values in phytoplankton assessment will not only miss temporal changes in size, but also lead to systematic errors in biomass estimates over time.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal declines in Wadden Sea phytoplankton cell volumes observed within and across species

Hillebrand

Carvalho

Dajka

et al. 2021

Limnology & Oceanography

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“…elongation, would reduce the average distance to membrane and therefore minimize the resource limitation in central parts of cell 14 , 16 . Hence, the flat and fractal morphology of Micrasterias partially lessens intracellular diffusion constraint, but a distribution of nuclear transcripts to extremities would still likely limit the maximal cell size 14 , 15 , 23 . Furthermore, the shape of organisms undoubtedly affects the distribution of organelles within the cell.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The intracellular diffusion limitation is often overlooked but could represent a very important constraint in unicellular organisms 14 . It is also a good candidate for a constraint limiting the upper size of the unicellular body 23 . It would explain why extremely large protists, such as Halimeda or Caulerpa , have siphonous body plans (large cell with multiple nuclei and cytoplasm streaming).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological scaling in green algae: the role of cell size and geometry

Bestová

Segrestin

Schwartzenberg

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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The Metabolic Scaling Theory (MST), hypothesizes limitations of resource-transport networks in organisms and predicts their optimization into fractal-like structures. As a result, the relationship between population growth rate and body size should follow a cross-species universal quarter-power scaling. However, the universality of metabolic scaling has been challenged, particularly across transitions from bacteria to protists to multicellulars. The population growth rate of unicellulars should be constrained by external diffusion, ruling nutrient uptake, and internal diffusion, operating nutrient distribution. Both constraints intensify with increasing size possibly leading to shifting in the scaling exponent. We focused on unicellular algae Micrasterias. Large size and fractal-like morphology make this species a transitional group between unicellular and multicellular organisms in the evolution of allometry. We tested MST predictions using measurements of growth rate, size, and morphology-related traits. We showed that growth scaling of Micrasterias follows MST predictions, reflecting constraints by internal diffusion transport. Cell fractality and density decrease led to a proportional increase in surface area with body mass relaxing external constraints. Complex allometric optimization enables to maintain quarter-power scaling of population growth rate even with a large unicellular plan. Overall, our findings support fractality as a key factor in the evolution of biological scaling.

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“…For simulations with the Stomp model, i (photosynthetic efficiency) values were sampled from a log-normal distribution, spanning a realistic range ( is strongly linked to cell size, which follows this distribution in nature, Langdon, 1988;Stomp et al, 2004;Finkel et al, 2010;Ryabov et al, 2021;Spaak & De Laender, 2021). Consequently, the…”

Section: Simulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stressor richness intensifies productivity loss but mitigates biodiversity loss

Holmes

Spaak

Laender

2021

Ecology and Evolution

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Intensifying global human activities cause biological communities to experience increasingly numerous and severe environmental stressors. Stressor combinations have the potential to degrade ecosystem functioning and reduce biodiversity (Côté et al., 2016;Nogales et al., 2011). The ability of communities to resist these stressors will dictate the quality of the ecosystem services they provide in the future (Elmqvist et al., 2003). Thus, investigating the effect of multiple stressors in combination has become an intensely studied area of research (Orr et al., 2020).Studies on the combined effect of multiple stressors typically rely on a standard factorial design: one measures first the effects of each stressor, and then of the stressor combinations. This approach allows testing for nonadditive effects of particular stressor combinations and especially targets the detection of synergistic effects, which can have severe consequences for ecosystem processes (Brennan

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Shape matters: the relationship between cell geometry and diversity in phytoplankton

Cited by 58 publications

References 71 publications

Temporal declines in Wadden Sea phytoplankton cell volumes observed within and across species

Temporal declines in Wadden Sea phytoplankton cell volumes observed within and across species

Biological scaling in green algae: the role of cell size and geometry

Stressor richness intensifies productivity loss but mitigates biodiversity loss

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