Can I read Mesopredator-mediated Trophic Cascade Can Break Persistent Phytoplankton Blooms in Coastal Waters on EtoBox?

Mesopredator-mediated Trophic Cascade Can Break Persistent Phytoplankton Blooms in Coastal Waters by Maximilian Berthold; Rhena Schumann; Volker Reiff; Rita Wulff; Hendrik Schubert is a scholarly article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Mesopredator-mediated Trophic Cascade Can Break Persistent Phytoplankton Blooms in Coastal Waters about?

## Abstract Managing eutrophied systems only bottom-up (nutrient decreases) can be economically and ecologically challenging. Top-down controls (consumption) were sometimes found to effectively control phytoplankton blooms. However, mechanistic insights, especially on possible trophic cascades, are less understood in brackish, species-poor coastal waters, where large cladocera are absent. In this study, we set-up large mesocosms for three consecutive years during growth season. One set of mesocosms was controlled by mesopredator (gobies and shrimp), whereas the other mesocosms had no such mesopredator present. The results were standardized to monitoring data of the ecosystem to denote possible differences between treatments and the system. We found that mesopredator mesocosms showed lower turbidity, phytoplankton biomass, and nutrients compared to no-mesopredator mesocosms and the ecosystem. This decrease allowed macrophytes to colonize water depths only sparsely colonized in the ecosystem. Rotifer biomass increased in mesopredator mesocosms compared to the ecosystem and no-mesopredator mesocosms. Likewise, copepod biomass that potentially grazes upon rotifers and other microzoopla

Author

Maximilian Berthold; Rhena Schumann; Volker Reiff; Rita Wulff; Hendrik Schubert

Publisher

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Published

2022

Language

EN