Increasing picocyanobacteria success in shelf waters contributes to long‐term food web degradation
Abstract Continental margins are disproportionally important for global primary production, fisheries and CO 2 uptake. However, across the Northeast Atlantic shelves, there has been an ongoing summertime decline of key biota—large diatoms, dinoflagellates and copepods—that traditionally fuel higher...
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crwiley:10.1111/gcb.15161 2024-09-15T18:25:27+00:00 Increasing picocyanobacteria success in shelf waters contributes to long‐term food web degradation Schmidt, Katrin Birchill, Antony J. Atkinson, Angus Brewin, Robert J. W. Clark, James R. Hickman, Anna E. Johns, David G. Lohan, Maeve C. Milne, Angela Pardo, Silvia Polimene, Luca Smyth, Tim J. Tarran, Glen A. Widdicombe, Claire E. Woodward, E. Malcolm S. Ussher, Simon J. Natural Environment Research Council 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15161 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fgcb.15161 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.15161 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/gcb.15161 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Global Change Biology volume 26, issue 10, page 5574-5587 ISSN 1354-1013 1365-2486 journal-article 2020 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15161 2024-09-05T05:03:32Z Abstract Continental margins are disproportionally important for global primary production, fisheries and CO 2 uptake. However, across the Northeast Atlantic shelves, there has been an ongoing summertime decline of key biota—large diatoms, dinoflagellates and copepods—that traditionally fuel higher tropic levels such as fish, sea birds and marine mammals. Here, we combine multiple time series with in situ process studies to link these declines to summer nutrient stress and increasing proportions of picophytoplankton that can comprise up to 90% of the combined pico‐ and nanophytoplankton biomass in coastal areas. Among the pico‐fraction, it is the cyanobacterium Synechococcus that flourishes when iron and nitrogen resupply to surface waters are diminished. Our field data show how traits beyond small size give Synechococcus a competitive edge over pico‐ and nanoeukaryotes. Key is their ability to grow at low irradiances near the nutricline, which is aided by their superior light‐harvesting system and high affinity to iron. However, minute size and lack of essential biomolecules (e.g. omega‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and sterols) render Synechococcus poor primary producers to sustain shelf sea food webs efficiently. The combination of earlier spring blooms and lower summer food quantity and quality creates an increasing period of suboptimal feeding conditions for zooplankton at a time of year when their metabolic demand is highest. We suggest that this nutrition‐related mismatch has contributed to the widespread, ~50% decline in summer copepod abundance we observe over the last 60 years. With Synechococcus clades being prominent from the tropics to the Arctic and their abundances increasing worldwide, our study informs projections of future food web dynamics in coastal and shelf areas where droughts and stratification lead to increasing nutrient starvation of surface waters. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northeast Atlantic Zooplankton Copepods Wiley Online Library Global Change Biology 26 10 5574 5587 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Continental margins are disproportionally important for global primary production, fisheries and CO 2 uptake. However, across the Northeast Atlantic shelves, there has been an ongoing summertime decline of key biota—large diatoms, dinoflagellates and copepods—that traditionally fuel higher tropic levels such as fish, sea birds and marine mammals. Here, we combine multiple time series with in situ process studies to link these declines to summer nutrient stress and increasing proportions of picophytoplankton that can comprise up to 90% of the combined pico‐ and nanophytoplankton biomass in coastal areas. Among the pico‐fraction, it is the cyanobacterium Synechococcus that flourishes when iron and nitrogen resupply to surface waters are diminished. Our field data show how traits beyond small size give Synechococcus a competitive edge over pico‐ and nanoeukaryotes. Key is their ability to grow at low irradiances near the nutricline, which is aided by their superior light‐harvesting system and high affinity to iron. However, minute size and lack of essential biomolecules (e.g. omega‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and sterols) render Synechococcus poor primary producers to sustain shelf sea food webs efficiently. The combination of earlier spring blooms and lower summer food quantity and quality creates an increasing period of suboptimal feeding conditions for zooplankton at a time of year when their metabolic demand is highest. We suggest that this nutrition‐related mismatch has contributed to the widespread, ~50% decline in summer copepod abundance we observe over the last 60 years. With Synechococcus clades being prominent from the tropics to the Arctic and their abundances increasing worldwide, our study informs projections of future food web dynamics in coastal and shelf areas where droughts and stratification lead to increasing nutrient starvation of surface waters. |
author2 |
Natural Environment Research Council |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Schmidt, Katrin Birchill, Antony J. Atkinson, Angus Brewin, Robert J. W. Clark, James R. Hickman, Anna E. Johns, David G. Lohan, Maeve C. Milne, Angela Pardo, Silvia Polimene, Luca Smyth, Tim J. Tarran, Glen A. Widdicombe, Claire E. Woodward, E. Malcolm S. Ussher, Simon J. |
spellingShingle |
Schmidt, Katrin Birchill, Antony J. Atkinson, Angus Brewin, Robert J. W. Clark, James R. Hickman, Anna E. Johns, David G. Lohan, Maeve C. Milne, Angela Pardo, Silvia Polimene, Luca Smyth, Tim J. Tarran, Glen A. Widdicombe, Claire E. Woodward, E. Malcolm S. Ussher, Simon J. Increasing picocyanobacteria success in shelf waters contributes to long‐term food web degradation |
author_facet |
Schmidt, Katrin Birchill, Antony J. Atkinson, Angus Brewin, Robert J. W. Clark, James R. Hickman, Anna E. Johns, David G. Lohan, Maeve C. Milne, Angela Pardo, Silvia Polimene, Luca Smyth, Tim J. Tarran, Glen A. Widdicombe, Claire E. Woodward, E. Malcolm S. Ussher, Simon J. |
author_sort |
Schmidt, Katrin |
title |
Increasing picocyanobacteria success in shelf waters contributes to long‐term food web degradation |
title_short |
Increasing picocyanobacteria success in shelf waters contributes to long‐term food web degradation |
title_full |
Increasing picocyanobacteria success in shelf waters contributes to long‐term food web degradation |
title_fullStr |
Increasing picocyanobacteria success in shelf waters contributes to long‐term food web degradation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Increasing picocyanobacteria success in shelf waters contributes to long‐term food web degradation |
title_sort |
increasing picocyanobacteria success in shelf waters contributes to long‐term food web degradation |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15161 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fgcb.15161 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.15161 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/gcb.15161 |
genre |
Northeast Atlantic Zooplankton Copepods |
genre_facet |
Northeast Atlantic Zooplankton Copepods |
op_source |
Global Change Biology volume 26, issue 10, page 5574-5587 ISSN 1354-1013 1365-2486 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15161 |
container_title |
Global Change Biology |
container_volume |
26 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
5574 |
op_container_end_page |
5587 |
_version_ |
1810465958420021248 |