Premium
The effects of disturbance events on phytoplankton community structure in a small temperate reservoir
Author(s) -
Barbiero R. P.,
James W. F.,
Barko J. W.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
freshwater biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.297
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2427
pISSN - 0046-5070
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2427.1999.00491.x
Subject(s) - dominance (genetics) , species richness , ecology , phytoplankton , temperate climate , ecological succession , climax , disturbance (geology) , intermediate disturbance hypothesis , community structure , storm , range (aeronautics) , biology , geography , nutrient , paleontology , biochemistry , materials science , gene , meteorology , composite material
1 The effects of disturbances, in the form of storm events, on phytoplankton community structure were examined over the course of four years in Eau Galle Reservoir, Wisconsin, USA. 2 Disturbances consistently brought about significant, but highly transient, increases in apparent phytoplankton species richness. It is likely that these resulted from temporary increases in the biomass of previously undetected rare species. 3 Substantial shifts in community dominance were confined to large, early season events, and were seldom long‐lived. Later ‘climax’ communities were highly resistant to any changes in dominance, even when increases in species richness occurred. 4 Regardless of when they occurred, disturbances tended to favour species from a narrow range of the successional sequence.