Plankton Dynamics and Anthropogenic Changes
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Plankton dynamics and anthropogenic changes Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Naturwissenschaften Dr. rer. nat. der Fakultät für Biologie der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München von Felicitas Buchberger Eingereicht zur Beurteilung am 29.08.2017 Gutachter: 1. Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Herwig Stibor 2. Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Jörg Nickelsen Tag der Abgabe: 29.08.2017 Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 17.11.2017 Table of contents Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 5 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 10 1.1 General Introduction ......................................................................................................... 11 1.2 Missing knowledge in community assembly .................................................................... 13 1.3 Global change challenges community assemblages ......................................................... 14 1.4 Phytoplankton communities and their importance for community ecology ..................... 16 1.5 Aims of the thesis ............................................................................................................. 17 1.6 Research questions ............................................................................................................ 19 I) Can changes in the light spectrum, naturally accompanying changes in mixing depth, influence phytoplankton communities? .................................................................................. 19 II) Are phytoplankton species from different taxonomic groups able to invade a natural phytoplankton community and, if not, do they still influence the resident community? ....... 21 III) How far do anthropogenic changes interact in affecting natural phytoplankton communities and can these interactions affect higher trophic levels? .................................... 24 IV) Can genetically modified microalgae (GMM) for biotechnological purposes affect consumers from higher trophic levels when invading plankton communities? ..................... 27 2. Methods .................................................................................................................................. 31 2.1 Light quality change and community assembly ............................................................... 32 2.2 Invaders as induced anthropogenic environmental biotic change for a natural phytoplankton community ...................................................................................................... 34 2.3 Combined light quality and invasion effects on community assembly and their effects on zooplankton ............................................................................................................................. 37 2.4 Life history of Daphnia magna when feeding on genetically modified microalgae ........ 40 3. Results .................................................................................................................................... 44 2 3.1 Light quality change and community assembly ............................................................... 45 3.2 Invaders as induced anthropogenic enviormental biotic changes for a natural phytoplankton community ...................................................................................................... 51 3.3 Combined light quality and invasion effects on community assembly and their effects on zooplankton ............................................................................................................................. 62 3.4 Life history of Daphnia magna when feeding on genetically modified microalgae ........ 69 4. Discussion .............................................................................................................................. 74 4.1 Light quality change and community assembly ............................................................... 75 4.2 Invaders and their effects on a natural phytoplankton community ................................... 78 4.3 Combined light quality and invasion effects on phytoplankton community assembly and their effects on zooplankton .................................................................................................... 82 4.4 Life history of Daphnia magna when feeding on genetically modified microalgae ........ 85 5. Conclusion and outlook .......................................................................................................... 89 5.1 Anthropogenic induced environmental changes influencing community composition: further investigations .............................................................................................................. 90 5.2 Changing traits of new entities and risk management of GMM ....................................... 92 6. References .............................................................................................................................. 95 7. Appendix .............................................................................................................................. 112 8. Manuscripts and author contributions .................................................................................. 118 8.1 Manuscripts ..................................................................................................................... 119 8.2 Author contributions ....................................................................................................... 120 9. Personal notes ....................................................................................................................... 121 9.1 Curriculum vitae ............................................................................................................. 122 9.2 Presentations ................................................................................................................... 124 3 10. Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................. 125 11. Declaration ......................................................................................................................... 127 4 Summary Summary Community assembly is a well-studied topic in ecology with a research history of more than 100 years. Over time, multiple theories describing the assembly of a community have been developed. However, many questions about the underlying mechanisms of community assembly processes remain unclear. Additionally, anthropogenic effects on natural environments, including climate change or fast industrial development, challenge natural communities and, ultimately, human well-being on Earth. Among other aspects, scientists developed an approach to identify the extent of human impact on the global ecosystem. This approach defines planetary boundaries for the nine most important environmental processes (climate change, ocean acidification, stratospheric ozone depletion, nitrogen/phosphorus cycle, global freshwater use, land system change, the rate of biodiversity loss, atmospheric aerosol loading, and chemical pollution). Within these boundaries, these processes sustain ecosystem services that enable ecosystem functioning for sustainable life on Earth. Ecosystem services are all naturally provided resources from which humans benefit. Anthropogenic changes to any of these processes can lead to a transgression of the recommended planetary boundary. Other features (e.g., novel entities such as substances or organisms, which were so far unknown to specific natural systems) could not yet be quantified. Thus, here I aimed to provide some further insights into the mechanisms of community dynamics under the influence of anthropogenic changes to the environment. Phytoplankton communities are well suited to the analysis of anthropogenic environmental changes on community dynamics. Phytoplankton is a diverse taxonomic group of photosynthetic, mostly unicellular organisms with usually short generation times. Phytoplankton plays an important role in aquatic ecosystems, representing the base of nearly all aquatic food webs and being responsible for about 50% of global primary production. In my thesis, I studied the impact of induced anthropogenic environmental changes on plankton community dynamics by performing experimental manipulations on artificial and natural phytoplankton communities and zooplankton. One of the investigated induced anthropogenic environmental changes, climate change, can alter water temperature and thereby also light climate in the water column. Light is one of the most important resources for photosynthetically active phytoplankton. Light quantity and quality can have an impact on the photosynthetic efficiency and can have consequences for algal growth. Quantity and quality of light are depended on water depth. With increasing depth light quantity and the light spectrum available for photosynthesis decrease. Through rising temperatures, water column stratification increases and reduces the depth of the upper mixed water layer (epilimnion). Thus, 6 Summary phytoplankton in a water column, with lower mixing depth, will be exposed to higher light amounts but also to a different (larger) light spectrum than phytoplankton in deeply mixed water columns. In general, phytoplankton can use different light spectra through group and species-specific pigment composition. Here, under controlled laboratory