Temperature, growth and seasonal succession of phytoplankton in Lake Baikal, Siberia

Abstract

Summary Growth rates of two dominant Lake Baikal phytoplankton, the winter diatom Aulacoseira baicalensis and the summer cyanobacterium Synechocystis limnetica, were measured in the laboratory under varied temperature and light regimes to determine the potential role of these abiotic factors in seasonal species succession in the lake. Aulacoseira baicalensis grew best at low temperature and not at all above 8 °C. Its maximum instantaneous growth rate was 0.15 d‐1 recorded at 2–3 °C. Cells grew faster as temperature decreased, apparently in contrast to conventional Q10‐based temperature‐growth relationships. The picoplankter Synechocystis limnetica did not grow at 2–3 or 5–6 °C, but grew at a rate of 0.24 d‐1 at the highest incubation temperature of 17 °C. Maximum growth rate was 0.35 d‐1 at 8 °C. Saturation irradiances (Ik) for growth of Aulacoseira baicalensis and Synechocystis limnetica were near pre‐acclimation values of 40 µmol m‐2 s‐1. At temperatures conducive to growth, both phytoplankters grew at all irradiances tested, except for A. baicalensis which would not grow at values above 300 µmol m‐2 s‐1 at 8 °C. We conclude that temperature is a major driving force for the seasonal succession of species in Lake Baikal. Other factors, including vertical mixing of the water column and grazing by zooplankton, may also play important roles.

Assessing the potential for developing internal diatom‐based transfer functions for Lake Baikal

“…Relationships of diatoms to environmental variables-Diatom phytoplankton in Lake Baikal, which are dominated by a small number of taxa whose populations vary significantly from year to year, are subject mainly to physical controls, such as light, temperature (Richardson et al 2000;Jewson et al unpubl. data), ice formation, and water-column mixing .…”

Effect of extremely severe winters on under-ice phytoplankton development in a mesotrophic lake (Eastern Poland)

“…In consequence, their population may concentrate in lower water layers where water density is higher. The dominance of some diatom species during winter is partly justified by their abilities to produce special proteins, which help them to survive at low temperatures (Richardson et al 2000). Similarly, some filamentous blue-green algae are adapted to low thermal-light conditions and they can be present in large numbers or even cause under-ice blooms (McKnight et al 2000;Dokulil, Herzig 2009;Babanazarova et al 2013).…”

Seasonal variations in physico-chemical characteristics of Tuticorin coastal waters, southeast coast of India

“…The surface water temperature varied from 26.4 to 29.7°C mainly with changes in monthly variations. Higher surface water temperature recorded during the May 2015 at station-III might be due to the increased solar radiation (Satpathy and Nair 1990;Richardson et al 2000). Though the SST is capable of altering the reproduction, growth, metabolism, microbial processes and especially photosynthesis rates, the observed ranges are not alarming and are within the optimal range (18.3-37.8°C) for production of plankton in tropical waters (Hossain et al 2007;Shah et al 2008).…”