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CLIMATE CHANGE UNCOUPLES TROPHIC INTERACTIONS IN AN AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM
Author(s) -
Winder Monika,
Schindler Daniel E.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.1890/04-0151
Subject(s) - trophic level , ecology , ecosystem , climate change , trophic cascade , zooplankton , environmental science , temperate climate , diatom , freshwater ecosystem , environmental change , phytoplankton , daphnia , bloom , biology , food web , nutrient
The largest uncertainty in forecasting the effects of climate change on ecosystems is in understanding how it will affect the nature of interactions among species. Climate change may have unexpected consequences because different species show unique responses to changes in environmental temperatures. Here we show that increasingly warmer springs since 1962 have disrupted the trophic linkages between phytoplankton and zooplankton in a large temperate lake because of differing sensitivity to vernal warming. The timing of thermal stratification and the spring diatom bloom have advanced by more than 20 days during this time period. A long‐term decline in Daphnia populations, the keystone herbivore, is associated with an expanding temporal mismatch with the spring diatom bloom and may have severe consequences for resource flow to upper trophic levels.