Quantifying the ecological stability of a phytoplankton community: The Lake Kinneret case study |
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| Institution: | 1. Amnis Opes Institute and Department of Fisheries & Wildlife, Oregon State University, 200 SW 35th Street, Corvallis, OR 97333, USA;2. Department of Fisheries & Wildlife, Oregon State University, 200 SW 35th Street, Corvallis, OR 97333, USA;3. Department of Statistics, Oregon State University, 44 Kidder Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA;1. Mannheim Institute of Public Health, Social and Preventive Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, 68167 Mannheim, Germany;1. Limnological Institute SB RAS, Ulan-Batorskaya str., 3, Irkutsk 664033, Russia;2. Cornell University, Cornell Biological Field Station at Shackelton Point, 900 Shackelton Point Road, Bridgeport, NY 13030 USA;3. School of Freshwater Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 600 E. Greenfield Ave. Milwaukee WI 53204 USA;1. Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Faculty of Geology and Geography, Department Climatology, Hydrology and Geomorphology, Bulgaria;2. Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Faculty of Biology, Department Botany, Bulgaria;1. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resource Development on Shallow Lakes, College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, PR China;2. Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, 1351 Beal Ave, 219 EWRE Bldg, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-2125, USA |
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| Abstract: | The widely used term “stability” has multiple meanings and is rarely quantified in limnological studies. The main objective of this study was to develop an approach for quantifying the stability of a phytoplankton community using Lake Kinneret as a case study. It is a first attempt of calculating an index of stability for each of the five main taxonomic groups of the Kinneret phytoplankton (Bacillariophyta, Chlorophyta, Cryptophyta, Cyanophyta and Dinophyta), and for the entire community. A simple statistical approach to calculate the stability index was devised, using phytoplankton wet-weight biomass as the parameter being manipulated. The period 1970–1979 was selected as a reference period. The following stability indices were established and applied (each at three time scales): (1) a stability index for each of five main taxonomic groups; (2) a combined index of the stability, aggregating the stabilities of the individual taxonomic groups and (3) a stability index of entire community based on total phytoplankton biomass. The dynamics of these indices during 1969–2011 were examined. Destabilization of the community structure was triggered by an increase in the variability of Bacillariophyta biomass shortly after the reference period, in 1981–1983. Only 10 years later, the community destabilization become associated with progressively increasing biomass of Cyanobacteria. Dinophyta were the last to destabilize in the mid 1990s. Despite notable changes in the community structure, the total phytoplankton biomass remained relatively stable. Therefore, in 1969–2011 the stability index based on total phytoplankton biomass was higher than the combined index based on the stabilities of the individual taxonomic groups. Only weak relationships were found between the stability index values and potential driving forces (lake water level fluctuations and nutrient loads). While this approach was applied to Lake Kinneret, the concept presented is not lake specific and could be applied to other lakes. |
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| Keywords: | Ecological stability Ecological distance Phytoplankton community Euclidean Distance Lake Kinneret Reference state |
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