A review on utilizing Bosmina size structure archived in lake sediments to infer historic shifts in predation regimes
TL;DR: It is concluded that subfossil Bosmina size structure is a promising indicator of historic changes in predation pressure in response to fish introductions/extirpations/population.
Abstract: Zooplankton are considered excellent indicators of aquatic food web structure, due to their role as grazers on primary producers and their sensitivity to predation by both planktivorous fish and invertebrates. Several key zooplankton taxa also leave identifiable remains that are often well-preserved in lake sediments, providing an opportunity to track changes in predation pressure over timescales of decades to thousands of years. For example, the small-bodied cladoceran zooplankter Bosmina (Branchiopoda, Crustacea) is often highly abundant in lake sediments, and because Bosmina often undergoes cyclomorphosis in response to fish and invertebrate predation, measurements of subfossil Bosmina features can be indicative of predation regime shifts. This review focuses on Bosmina cyclomorphic responses to varying predation regimes and the application of these principles to Bosmina subfossil remains to better understand long-term ecological changes occurring in lakes. We conclude that subfossil Bosmina size structure is a promising indicator of historic changes in predation pressure in response to fish introductions/extirpations/population
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TL;DR: In this article, the first robust molecular phylogeny of the group and inferring patterns of morphological evolution was developed by using sequence alignments of five nuclear rDNA genes and one mitochondrial gene from representative Holarctic species from all of the proposed subgenera and genera.
Abstract: Bosminids are ubiquitous and abundant crustacean herbivores in freshwater ecosystems. They are among the best preserved zooplankters in limnological sediments, making them ideal paleolimnological indicators of ecosystem change. Moreover, their egg banks make possible the study of paleogenetics and resurrection ecology. A major limitation to these comparative disciplines is that the relatedness and identities of compared bosminid specimens or subfossils is often uncertain. We aimed to remedy this by developing the first robust molecular phylogeny of the group and inferring patterns of morphological evolution. We used sequence alignments of five nuclear rDNA genes (partial 18S rDNA, internal transcribed spacer 1 [ITS-1], 5.8S, ITS-2, and partial 28S rDNA) and one mitochondrial gene (partial 16S rDNA) from representative Holarctic species from all of the proposed subgenera and genera. No evidence of within-individual sequence variation in the gene regions analyzed was found for the genus Bosmina and the genus Eubosmina. Our nuclear and mitochondrial genetic results revealed a robust phylogeny and were congruent with morphological changes. Competing morphological schemes of bosminid systematics were reconciled by reassigning several species to different subgenera, resurrecting the genus Eubosmina, erecting a new subgenus, and revising the character coding systems that created paraphyletic groups. The results provide an evolutionary framework with diagnostic genetic and morphologic characters for studies of bosminid paleolimnology and paleogenetics.
65 citations
TL;DR: A critical review of the complete fossil record of the Cladocera including the first ever deep-time palaeolimnological framework for the group is presented and shown remarkable plasticity which have been the key to their survival and success in the present day.
44 citations
TL;DR: Recent progress in research on inducible defences in freshwater zooplankton concerning behaviour, morphology, and life-history, as well as difficulties of studies conducted in a multipredator set up are highlighted.
Abstract: Phenotypic plasticity in defensive traits is an appropriate mechanism to cope with the variable hazard of a frequently changing predator spectrum. In the animal kingdom these so-called inducible defences cover the entire taxonomic range from protozoans to vertebrates. The inducible defensive traits range from behaviour, morphology, and life-history adaptations to the activation of specific immune systems in vertebrates. Inducible defences in prey species play important roles in the dynamics and functioning of food webs. Freshwater zooplankton show the most prominent examples of inducible defences triggered by chemical cues, so-called kairomones, released by predatory invertebrates and fish. The objective of this review is to highlight recent progress in research on inducible defences in freshwater zooplankton concerning behaviour, morphology, and life-history, as well as difficulties of studies conducted in a multipredator set up. Furthermore, we outline costs associated with the defences and discuss difficulties as well as the progress made in characterizing defence-inducing cues. Finally, we aim to indicate further possible routes in this field of research and provide a comprehensive table of inducible defences with respect to both prey and predator species.
34 citations
TL;DR: Cladoceran FD was positively related to lake productivity and bottom-up controls during the early stages of eutrophication in the long-term record but top-down controls apparently were more important at a decadal scale and under hypereutrophic conditions.
Abstract: Summary
Functional diversity (FD) as a biodiversity measure has an explicit role in ecosystem functioning because the effects of environmental changes in ecosystems are determined by biological functions, such as feeding type and trophic position, of particular species.
We evaluated the usability of functional characterization and FD of an aquatic keystone group (Crustacea: Cladocera) for enhancing the understanding of long-term lake functional responses to environmental changes. The aims were to separate ecologically significant functional groups, investigate succession of such functional groups during nutrient enrichment process and determine the relationship between FD and lake productivity using a palaeolimnological approach.
We selected two eutrophicated study lakes from southern Finland for down-core investigations, one with a centennial (past c. 350 years) and the other with a decadal (past c. 70 years) nutrient enrichment record. Cladoceran microfossils in the sediment cores were used to determine the taxonomic structure of the past communities. Ecologically relevant functional characteristics were determined to separate functional groups by utilizing a functional dendrogram and a weighted community-based FD index together with a set of multidimensional FD indices. The indices were applied to the down-core assemblages.
The functional dendrogram separated cladocerans into functional groups where habitat type principally separated open-water filterers and predators from epibenthic scrapers and detritivores. Further separation in the pelagic branch was based on body size and feeding and among the benthic branch body shape.
Functional assemblages changed markedly during the nutrient enrichment process. In the early stage of eutrophication, the largest functional changes were caused by small planktonic filterers and predators. Small filterers and epibenthos responded strongest during the eutrophic–hypereutrophic succession. FD had a positive long-term relationship with lake trophic status until eutrophic conditions that was likely caused by diversifying resources and versatile food webs. Under hypereutrophic conditions, and especially at a decadal temporal resolution, alternating predation regimes caused variance to FD.
In the current records, cladoceran FD was positively related to lake productivity and bottom-up controls during the early stages of eutrophication in the long-term record but top-down controls apparently were more important at a decadal scale and under hypereutrophic conditions.
34 citations
TL;DR: Although B. longirostris often displays high abundances in the world’s freshwaters and sporadic studies on its feeding suggest that the species can have an important role in energy transfer throughout the food web, it is still perceived by scientists as having a minor role in the classical food web structure.
Abstract: Bosmina longirostris is a small-bodied, filter-feeding cladoceran. The species is widely distributed throughout the world in temperate and tropical climates, where it persists in all kinds of freshwater bodies regardless of their trophy, acidification, or salinity. Its wide distribution causes B. longirostris to be one of the most taxonomically recognizable Cladocera species all over the world, despite the fact that the species is a well-known example of a taxon with confused taxonomy. Although B. longirostris often displays high abundances in the world’s freshwaters and sporadic studies on its feeding suggest that the species can have an important role in energy transfer throughout the food web, B. longirostris is still perceived by scientists as having a minor role in the classical food web structure. This perception of B. longirostris as a food web component could be altered in the near future due to global climatic changes, including increases in temperature which may cause cyanobacterial blooms that may be more harmful to Daphnia than B. longirostris. The response of B. longirostris to environmental, competitive, and predatory conditions has been repeatedly studied to search for application of that species as indicator in ecological, neolimnological, and paleolimnological research. Regardless of its common use as test species in ecological and limnological studies, B. longirostris still lacks appropriate study by researchers because of its problematic systematics. Research directed at this species seems to be hampered by the absence of an accurate taxonomical revision of B. longirostris or group of cryptic species called B. longirostris.
34 citations
Cites background from "A review on utilizing Bosmina size ..."
...longirostris shields provides us with important information about past predatory pressure (Korosi et al., 2013)....
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...The shape of B. longirostris shields provides us with important information about past predatory pressure (Korosi et al., 2013)....
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References
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TL;DR: The effect of a marine planktivore on lake plankton illustrates theory of size, competition, and predation.
Abstract: ARTICLES Organic Fluorine Chemistry: C. G. Krespai.................................. Expanding rapidly, the science of these compounds has assumed both theoretical and practical importance. The Biological Synthesis of Cholesterol: K. Bloch .............................. Predation, Body Size, and Con-mposition of Plankton: J. L. Brooks and S. I. Dodson ... The effect of a marine planktivore on lake plankton illustrates theory of size, competition, and predation. 7
3,156 citations
Book•
24 Sep 1993
TL;DR: A simulation models of the trophic cascade: predictions and evaluations of the fish behavioral and community responses to manipulation and the annual fossil record of food-web manipulation are presented.
Abstract: 1. Cascading trophic interactions 2. Experimental lakes, manipulations and measurements 3. Statistical analysis of the ecosystem experiments 4. The fish populations 5. Fish behavioral and community responses to manipulation 6. Roles of fish predation: piscivory and planktivory 7. Dynamics of the phantom midge: implications for zooplankton 8. Zooplankton community dynamics 9. Effects of predators and food supply and diel vertical migration of Daphnia 10. Zooplankton biomass and body size 11. Phytoplankton community dynamics 12. Metalimnetic phytoplankton 13. Primary production and its interactions with nutrients and light transmission 14. Heterotrophic microbial processes 15. Annual fossil record of food-web manipulation 16. Simulation models of the trophic cascade: predictions and evaluations 17. Synthesis and new directions Index.
880 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2002
TL;DR: The second edition of the Rosetta Stone has been published by as discussed by the authors, which is used to calibrate indicators to environmental variables using surface-sediment training sets, such as ozone depletion, acid rain, and climatic warming.
Abstract: Preface to the second edition. About the author. 1 There is no substitute for water. 2 How long is long?. 3 Sediments: an ecosystem's memory. 4 Retrieving the sedimentary archive and establishing the geochronological clock: collecting and dating sediment cores. 5 Reading the records stored in sediments: the present is a key to the past. 6 The paleolimnologist's Rosetta Stone: calibrating indicators to environmental variables using surface-sediment training sets. 7 Acidification: finding the "smoking gun". 8 Metals, technological development, and the environment. 9 Persistent organic pollutants: industrially synthesized chemicals "hopping" across the planet. 10 Mercury - "the metal that slipped away". 11 Eutrophication: the environmental consequences of over-fertilization. 12 Erosion: tracking the accelerated movement of material from land to water. 13 Species invasions, biomanipulations, and extirpations. 14 Greenhouse gas emissions and a changing atmosphere: tracking the effects of climatic change on water resources. 15 Ozone depletion, acid rain, and climatic warming: the problems of multiple stressors. 16 New problems, new challenges. 17 Paleolimnology: a window on the past, a key to our future. Glossary. References. Index
673 citations
TL;DR: The size—efficiency hypothesis, that large species exclude the smaller ones through competition for food, was not substantiated and an alternate hypothesis extends the understanding of the importance of size—selective predators to include invertebrates selecting small prey.
Abstract: Twelve 42—liter plankton cages were used in an alpine Colorado pond to test a size—efficiency hypothesis: to determine why small herbivorous zooplankton species tend not to coexist with large species. The size—efficiency hypothesis, that large species exclude the smaller ones through competition for food, was not substantiated. An alternate hypothesis extends the understanding of the importance of size—selective predators to include invertebrates selecting small prey. A predaceous copepod Diaptomus shoshone excluded the small Daphnia minnehaha from an association with the large D. middendorffiana within 1 mo. By implication, the predacious copepod is responsible for the absence of the small species in ponds occupied by the large Daphnia species. See full-text article at JSTOR
428 citations