title: CO₂ alters community composition and response to nutrient enrichment of freshwater phytoplankton.
abstract: Nutrients can limit the productivity of ecosystems and control the composition of the communities of organisms that inhabit them. Humans are causing atmospheric CO2 concentrations to reach levels higher than those of the past millions of years while at the same time propagating eutrophication through the addition of nutrients to lakes and rivers. We studied the effect of elevated CO2 concentrations, nutrient addition and their interaction in a series of freshwater mesocosm experiments using a factorial design. Our results highlight the important role of CO2 in shaping phytoplankton communities and their response to nutrient addition. We found that CO2 greatly magnified the increase in phytoplankton growth caused by the increased availability of nutrients. Elevated CO2 also caused changes in phytoplankton community composition. As predicted from physiology and laboratory experiments, the taxonomic group that was most limited by current day CO2 concentrations, chlorophytes, increased in relative frequency at elevated CO2. This predictable change in community composition with changes in CO2 is not altered by changes in the availability of other nutrients.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK. elowde@essex.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Low-Décarie
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, McGill University, Stewart Biology Building, 1205 ave. Docteur-Penfield, Montreal, QC, H3A 1B1, Canada.
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, McGill University, Stewart Biology Building, 1205 ave. Docteur-Penfield, Montreal, QC, H3A 1B1, Canada.
authors.forename: Gregor F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Fussmann
mesh_terms: D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry; D000460:Chlorophyta / Q000254:growth & development; D017753:Ecosystem; D005068:Eutrophication; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D060106:Lakes; D010839:Phytoplankton / Q000254:growth & development*; D045483:Rivers
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide