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1. Paleolimnological evidence for primary producer change linked to hydrologic connectivity and human impacts in Lake Carlton, Florida, USA

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-024-00318-y  

   Clift, Troy L.; Waters, Matthew N. (April 2024, Journal of Paleolimnology)

   Guangjie Chen (Ed.)

   Abstract Hypereutrophic conditions in lake ecosystems are generally associated with nutrient inputs from surrounding terrestrial landscapes. However, some systems can receive primary nutrient inputs through hydrologic connections such as rivers or canals. Lake Carlton, Florida, USA is a small, shallow, polymictic lake that ends a hydrologically connected string of lacustrine systems with hypereutrophic lakes Beauclair and Apopka. Lake Beauclair and Lake Apopka were connected hydrologically when a system of canals was constructed beginning in 1893 CE. These lakes have maintained hypereutrophic conditions despite extensive management to reduce nutrient inputs. Here, we collected a sediment core from Lake Carlton to accomplish two primary research objectives: 1) reconstruct the nutrient input for Lake Carlton throughout the last ~ 150 years to conduct source assessment, and 2) link primary producer changes with management actions between lakes Apopka, Beauclair, and Carlton. Paleolimnological tools were applied to a 165-cm sediment core and analyzed for bulk density, organic matter content, nutrients (C, N, P), photosynthetic pigments, and total microcystins. Sediments were dated using²¹⁰Pb and results indicate that the core represents over 150 years of sediment accumulation. Sedimentary nutrient concentrations show that the primary driver of nutrient inputs resulted from canal construction, beginning in 1893 CE, which corresponded to increased nutrient deposition. Photosynthetic pigment data indicate dramatic increases in most primary producer groups coinciding with the hydrologic modification. However, around ~ 1970 CE, primary producer communities shifted from diatom dominance to cyanobacterial dominance, which appeared to be linked to internal nutrient dynamics and competition among phytoplankters within the lake ecosystem. Cyanotoxin production records show a significant lag between cyanobacterial dominance and peak cyanotoxin production with toxins increasing in the last 30 years. These data demonstrate that local nutrient inputs do not govern all phytoplankton dynamics in shallow lake systems but must be interpreted considering hydrologic alterations and management practices. 

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2. Nitrogen and phosphorus enrichment cause declines in invertebrate populations: a global meta‐analysis

   https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12771  

   Nessel, Mark P.; Konnovitch, Theresa; Romero, Gustavo Q.; González, Angélica L. (June 2021, Biological Reviews)

   ABSTRACT Human‐driven changes in nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) inputs are modifying biogeochemical cycles and the trophic state of many habitats worldwide. These alterations are predicted to continue to increase, with the potential for a wide range of impacts on invertebrates, key players in ecosystem‐level processes. Here, we present a meta‐analysis of 1679 cases from 207 studies reporting the effects of N, P, and combined N + P enrichment on the abundance, biomass, and richness of aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates. Nitrogen and phosphorus additions decreased invertebrate abundance in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, with stronger impacts under combined N + P additions. Likewise, N and N + P additions had stronger negative impacts on the abundance of tropical than temperate invertebrates. Overall, the effects of nutrient enrichment did not differ significantly among major invertebrate taxonomic groups, suggesting that changes in biogeochemical cycles are a pervasive threat to invertebrate populations across ecosystems. The effects of N and P additions differed significantly among invertebrate trophic groups but N + P addition had a consistent negative effect on invertebrates. Nutrient additions had weaker or inconclusive impacts on invertebrate biomass and richness, possibly due to the low number of case studies for these community responses. Our findings suggest that N and P enrichment affect invertebrate community structure mainly by decreasing invertebrate abundance, and these effects are dependent on the habitat and trophic identity of the invertebrates. These results highlight the important effects of human‐driven nutrient enrichment on ecological systems and suggest a potential driver for the global invertebrate decline documented in recent years. 

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3. Understanding the effects of climate change via disturbance on pristine arctic lakes—multitrophic level response and recovery to a 12‐yr, low‐level fertilization experiment

   https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.11893  

   Budy, Phaedra; Pennock, Casey A.; Giblin, Anne E.; Luecke, Chris; White, Daniel L.; Kling, George W. (August 2021, Limnology and Oceanography)

   Abstract Effects of climate change‐driven disturbance on lake ecosystems can be subtle; indirect effects include increased nutrient loading that could impact ecosystem function. We designed a low‐level fertilization experiment to mimic persistent, climate change‐driven disturbances (deeper thaw, greater weathering, or thermokarst failure) delivering nutrients to arctic lakes. We measured responses of pelagic trophic levels over 12 yr in a fertilized deep lake with fish and a shallow fishless lake, compared to paired reference lakes, and monitored recovery for 6 yr. Relative to prefertilization in the deep lake, we observed a maximum pelagic response in chla(+201%), dissolved oxygen (DO, −43%), and zooplankton biomass (+88%) during the fertilization period (2001–2012). Other responses to fertilization, such as water transparency and fish relative abundance, were delayed, but both ultimately declined. Phyto‐ and zooplankton biomass and community composition shifted with fertilization. The effects of fertilization were less pronounced in the paired shallow lakes, because of a natural thermokarst failure likely impacting the reference lake. In the deep lake there was (a) moderate resistance to change in ecosystem functions at all trophic levels, (b) eventual responses were often nonlinear, and (c) postfertilization recovery (return) times were most rapid at the base of the food web (2–4 yr) while higher trophic levels failed to recover after 6 yr. The timing and magnitude of responses to fertilization in these arctic lakes were similar to responses in other lakes, suggesting indirect effects of climate change that modify nutrient inputs may affect many lakes in the future. 

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4. Experimental N and P additions relieve stoichiometric constraints on organic matter flows through five stream food webs

   https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13197  

   Demi, Lee M.; Benstead, Jonathan P.; Rosemond, Amy D.; Maerz, John C.; Clay, ed., Natalie (April 2020, Journal of Animal Ecology)

   Abstract Human activities have dramatically altered global patterns of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availability. This pervasive nutrient pollution is changing basal resource quality in food webs, thereby affecting rates of biological productivity and the pathways of energy and material flow to higher trophic levels.Here, we investigate how the stoichiometric quality of basal resources modulates patterns of material flow through food webs by characterizing the effects of experimental N and P enrichment on the trophic basis of macroinvertebrate production and flows of dominant food resources to consumers in five detritus‐based stream food webs.After a pre‐treatment year, each stream received N and P at different concentrations for 2 years, resulting in a unique dissolved N:P ratio (target range from 128:1 to 2:1) for each stream. We combined estimates of secondary production and gut contents analysis to calculate rates of material flow from basal resources to macroinvertebrate consumers in all five streams, during all 3 years of study.Nutrient enrichment resulted in a 1.5× increase in basal resource flows to primary consumers, with the greatest increases from biofilms and wood. Flows of most basal resources were negatively related to resource C:P, indicating widespread P limitation in these detritus‐based food webs. Nutrient enrichment resulted in a greater proportion of leaf litter, the dominant resource flow‐pathway, being consumed by macroinvertebrates, with that proportion increasing with decreasing leaf litter C:P. However, the increase in efficiency with which basal resources were channelled into metazoan food webs was not propagated to macroinvertebrate predators, as flows of prey did not systematically increase following enrichment and were unrelated to basal resource flows.This study suggests that ongoing global increases in N and P supply will increase organic matter flows to metazoan food webs in detritus‐based ecosystems by reducing stoichiometric constraints at basal trophic levels. However, the extent to which those flows are propagated to the highest trophic levels likely depends on responses of individual prey taxa and their relative susceptibility to predation. 

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5. Gelatinous filter feeders increase ecosystem efficiency

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06717-1  

   Stukel, Michael_R; Décima, Moira; Fender, Christian_K; Gutierrez-Rodriguez, Andres; Selph, Karen_E (August 2024, Communications Biology)

   Abstract Gelatinous filter feeders (e.g., salps, doliolids, and pyrosomes) have high filtration rates and can feed at predator:prey size ratios exceeding 10,000:1, yet are seldom included in ecosystem or climate models. We investigated foodweb and trophic dynamics in the presence and absence of salp blooms using traditional productivity and grazing measurements combined with compound-specific isotopic analysis of amino acids estimation of trophic position during Lagrangian framework experiments in the Southern Ocean. Trophic positions of salps ranging 10–132 mm in size were 2.2 ± 0.3 (mean ± std) compared to 2.6 ± 0.4 for smaller (mostly crustacean) mesozooplankton. The mostly herbivorous salp trophic position was maintained despite biomass dominance of ~10-µm-sized primary producers. We show that potential energy flux to >10-cm organisms increases by approximately an order of magnitude when salps are abundant, even without substantial alteration to primary production. Comparison to a wider dataset from other marine regions shows that alterations to herbivore communities are a better predictor of ecosystem transfer efficiency than primary-producer dynamics. These results suggest that diverse consumer communities and intraguild predation complicate climate change predictions (e.g., trophic amplification) based on linear food chains. These compensatory foodweb dynamics should be included in models that forecast marine ecosystem responses to warming and reduced nutrient supply. 

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