Stratification strength and light climate explain variation in chlorophyll a at the continental scale in a European multilake survey in a heatwave summer
- Year of publication
- 2021
- Journal
- Limnology and Oceanography
- Contributors
- Daphne Donis, Evanthia Mantzouki, Daniel F. McGinnis, Dominic Vachon, Irene Gallego, Hans-Peter Grossart, Lisette N. de Senerpont Domis, Sven Teurlincx, Laura Seelen, Miquel Lürling, Yvon Verstijnen, Valentini Maliaka, Jeremy Fonvielle, Petra M. Visser, Jolanda Verspagen, Maria van Herk, Maria G. Antoniou, Nikoletta Tsiarta, Valerie McCarthy, Victor C. Perello, Danielle Machado-Vieira, Alinne Gurjão De Oliveira, Dubravka Špoljarić Maronić, Filip Stević, Tanja Žuna Pfeiffer, Itana Bokan Vucelić, Petar Žutinić, Marija Gligora Udovič, Anđelka Plenković-Moraj, Ludek Blaha, Rodan Geriš, Markéta Fránková, Kirsten Seestern Christoffersen, Trine Perlt Warming, Tõnu Feldmann, Alo Laas, Kristel Panksep, Lea Tuvikene, Kersti Kangro, Judita Koreivienė, Jūratė Karosienė, Jūratė Kasperovičienė, Ksenija Savadova-Ratkus, Irma Vitonytė, Kerstin Häggqvist, Pauliina Salmi, Lauri Arvola, Karl-Otto Rothhaupt, Christos Avagianos, Triantafyllos Kaloudis, Spyros Gkelis, Manthos Panou, Theodoros Triantis, Sevasti-Kiriaki Zervou, Anastasia Hiskia, Ulrike Obertegger, Adriano Boscaini, Giovanna Flaim, Nico Salmaso, Leonardo Cerasino, Sigrid Haande, Birger Skjelbred, Magdalena Grabowska, Maciej Karpowicz, Damian Chmura, Lidia Nawrocka, Justyna Kobos, Hanna Mazur-Marzec, Pablo Alcaraz-Párraga, Elżbieta Wilk-Woźniak, Wojciech Krztoń, Edward Walusiak, Ilona Gagala-Borowska, Joanna Mankiewicz-Boczek, Magdalena Toporowska, Barbara Pawlik-Skowronska, Michał Niedźwiecki, Wojciech Pęczuła, Agnieszka Napiórkowska-Krzebietke, Julita Dunalska, Justyna Sieńska, Daniel Szymański, Marek Kruk, Agnieszka Budzyńska, Ryszard Goldyn, Anna Kozak, Joanna Rosińska, Elżbieta Szeląg-Wasielewska, Piotr Domek, Natalia Jakubowska-Krepska, Kinga Kwasizur, Beata Messyasz, Aleksandra Pełechata, Mariusz Pełechaty, Mikolaj Kokocinski, Beata Madrecka, Iwona Kostrzewska-Szlakowska, Magdalena Frąk, Agnieszka Bańkowska-Sobczak, Michał Wasilewicz
Sigrid Haande
Birger Skjelbred
Summary
To determine the drivers of phytoplankton biomass, we collected standardized morphometric, physical, and biological data in 230 lakes across the Mediterranean, Continental, and Boreal climatic zones of the European continent. Multilinear regression models tested on this snapshot of mostly eutrophic lakes (median total phosphorus [TP] = 0.06 and total nitrogen [TN] = 0.7 mg L−1), and its subsets (2 depth types and 3 climatic zones), show that light climate and stratification strength were the most significant explanatory variables for chlorophyll a (Chl a) variance. TN was a significant predictor for phytoplankton biomass for shallow and continental lakes, while TP never appeared as an explanatory variable, suggesting that under high TP, light, which partially controls stratification strength, becomes limiting for phytoplankton development. Mediterranean lakes were the warmest yet most weakly stratified and had significantly less Chl a than Boreal lakes, where the temperature anomaly from the long-term average, during a summer heatwave was the highest (+4°C) and showed a significant, exponential relationship with stratification strength. This European survey represents a summer snapshot of phytoplankton biomass and its drivers, and lends support that light and stratification metrics, which are both affected by climate change, are better predictors for phytoplankton biomass in nutrient-rich lakes than nutrient concentrations and surface temperature.