Interannual changes in benthic biomass under climate-induced variations in productivity of a small northern lake

Abstract

Long-term (2002 – 2017) monitoring data were analyzed to highlight the interannual variations of macrozoobenthosin a small oligotrophic lake (area 0.5 km2, maximal depth 32 m, mean depth 12 m) located in northwesternRussia. Samples were taken at three sites situated in littoral (depth 0.5 m), sublittoral (8 m) and profundal(30 m) mainly during an ice-free period (as a rule five times a season). An attempt was made to relate the annualmacrobenthic biomass with pelagic productivity (chlorophyll-a, Secchi depth) and changes in climatic variables(North Atlantic Oscillation and Arctic Oscillation indexes, air temperature and atmospheric precipitations). Theresults suggest that the interannual dynamic of biological communities in the lake is appreciably controlled bywinter meteorological conditions. The concentration of chlorophyll-a correlated positively with wintertime airtemperature and climatic indexes with a two-year lag. Benthic communities inhabiting different depths differed intheir response to climatic variations. Climate-induced changes in primary production seem to be the main factorinfluencing the biomass of macrozoobenthos in the littoral zone. Intra- and interspecific biotic interactions may bemore important in regulating sublittoral and profundal communities. Also, at the deepest site, late-winter oxygendepletion affected the biomass of macrozoobenthos. The potential mechanisms of the impact of climate variationson lake productivity in northern regions are discussed.

Population dynamics of the glacial relict amphipods in a subarctic lake: role of density‐dependent and density‐independent factors

“…However, there is no significant correlation between chlorophyll and biomass of macroinvertebrates (including M . affinis ) in the sublittoral zone (Maximov et al, 2021 ). The results presented here suggest that pelagic production does have effect, but operates primarily through changes in recruitment.…”

“…The concentration of chlorophyll from 2010 was obtained from monthly integral water column samples (0-7 m) collected by Ruttner bottle from May to October. The earlier (2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009) data are average annual values accepted from Maximov et al (2021). In both cases, the concentration of chlorophyll a was measured using standard technique (UNESCO, 1966).…”

“…Density‐dependent processes in populations of freshwater invertebrates are still poorly understood. As a rule, it is considered that invertebrates are influenced mainly by environmental conditions directly or indirectly (as a result of climate‐induced variations in primary production and food availability) (Jyväsjärvi & Hämäläinen, 2014 ; Maximov et al, 2021 ).…”

Relationships Between Northern Hemisphere Teleconnection Patterns and Phytoplankton Productivity in the Neva Estuary (Northeastern Baltic Sea)

“…It is known that atmospheric circulation and weather conditions in different parts of the world are largely determined by teleconnection patterns, and their fluctuations are reasonably well predicted using climate indices (e.g., Krichak and Alpert, 2005;Baldwin et al, 2007;Popova, 2007;Ceglar et al, 2017;Yao and Luo, 2018). Due to this, a relationship between various biological processes and climatic indices has been found in many aquatic ecosystems (Straile and Adrian, 2000;Blenckner and Hillerbrand, 2002;Weyhenmeyer, 2008;Sharov et al, 2014;Gubelit, 2015;Kashkooli et al, 2017;Greaves et al, 2020;Maximov et al, 2021). Climatic indices are used to predict the productivity of open ocean waters (Le et al, 2019;Greaves et al, 2020) and inland seas (Kashkooli et al, 2017).…”

Research advances emerging from SEFS11: The 11th Symposium for European Freshwater Sciences

“…The studies report a wide range of topics within freshwater science, including hydrochemistry, species and habitat conservation, primary and secondary production dynamics, structural and functional community responses to disturbances, and biotic regulation of nutrient cycling. These papers have common strengths including the analysis of long-term data to support conservation and management strategies in changing European climates (Carosi et al 2020;Maximov et al 2020;Vurnek et al 2020), and use of both traditional and genetic identification methods to characterize biodiversity -again supporting species conservation, in particular within the protected waters of the SEFS11 host nation, Croatia (Buj et al 2020;Ivić et al 2020;Piria et al 2020). Other studies bring new insight into structural and functional invertebrate responses to disturbance (Lencioni et al 2020;Šumanović et al 2020), andZandonà et al (2020) are unique in exploring the stoichiometry of nutrient excretion by consumers with contrasting diets and body elemental composition.…”