Articles | Volume 16, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/we-16-89-2016
Special issue:
https://doi.org/10.5194/we-16-89-2016
Short communication
 | 
22 Apr 2016
Short communication |  | 22 Apr 2016

Effects of warming on a Mediterranean phytoplankton community

Silvia Pulina, Andreas Brutemark, Sanna Suikkanen, Bachisio M. Padedda, Lorena M. Grubisic, Cecilia T. Satta, Tiziana Caddeo, Pasqualina Farina, Nicola Sechi, and Antonella Lugliè

Abstract. Predicting the responses of organisms is a complex challenge especially when water temperature is expected to increase over the coming decades, as a result of global warming. In this work the effects of warming on phytoplankton communities were investigated. An indoor experiment was performed, where water from a Mediterranean lagoon was incubated at different temperatures. Three treatments were applied in triplicate incubation units: the control (11 °C), 3 °C increase (14 °C), and 6 °C increase (17 °C). Our results showed significant effects by warming on phytoplankton. The abundance of relatively smaller taxa (Chlorella sp. and Planktothrix agardhii–rubescens group) increased at 17 °C, whereas the abundance of relatively larger species (Cyclotella sp. and Thalassiosira sp.) decreased, compared with the control. This shift towards smaller taxa resulted in a higher total biomass but lower chlorophyll a concentrations at the highest temperature.

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Short summary
In this work the effects of warming on phytoplankton communities was investigated. An indoor experiment was performed in which water from a Mediterranean lagoon was incubated at different temperatures. A shift towards smaller taxa resulted in a higher total biomass but lower chlorophyll a concentrations at the highest temperature. This study contributes to the knowledge on the responses of phytoplankton to warming, which is still scarce in Mediterranean marine and brackish environments.
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