Macrophytes shift phytoplankton community in mesocosms III

Tropical macrophytes promote phytoplankton community shifts in lake mesocosms: relevance for lake restoration in warm climates

Aquatic systems
Changing biodiversity
Hydrobiologia 2021
Authors

Darren Z.H. Sim

Maxine A.D. Mowe

Yiluan Song

Joy Lu

Hugh T.W. Tan

Simon M. Mitrovic

Daniel L. Roelke

Darren C.J. Yeo

Published

August 31, 2021

Keywords

global change biology, environmental data science, aquatic plants, mesocosm, water quality, cyanobacteria, phytoplankton, community composition, restoration

Paper

Highlights

  • Macrophytes reduce phytoplankton biomass and increase water clarity in turbid tropical lakes in a density-dependent manner.
  • High-density macrophyte treatments shift phytoplankton communities from turbid water-adapted filamentous cyanobacteria to clear water-adapted green algae and cryptophytes.
  • Emergent and submerged macrophytes reduced phytoplankton biomass and distinctly altered taxonomic and functional composition.

Design of the in-situ mesocosm experiment.

Changes in water parameters in mesocosms during the macrophyte density experiment.

Relative biovolume composition of phytoplankton in the control and macrophyte treatments.

Non-metric dimensional scaling (NMDS) ordination showing shift in phytoplankton community composition in the growth-form experiment.