| Summary: | Climate warming threatens the structure and function of shallow lakes, not least those in the Mediterranean climate. We used a space-for-time substitution approach to assess the response of trophic and community structures as well as the richness and evenness of multiple trophic levels to temperature, hydrological, and nutrient constraints. We selected 41 lakes covering wide climatic, hydrological, and nutrient gradients within a short distance for reducing the effect of biogeographical factors in the western Anatolian plateau of Turkey. Generalized linear model analyses revealed that temperature was overall the most important driving variable, followed by total nitrogen (TN) and salinity. The chlorophylla:total phosphorus ratio, the cyanobacteria:total phytoplankton biovolume ratio, the fish:zooplankton biomass ratio, the proportion of small fish, and fish richness increased with increasing temperature, whereas macrophyte plant volume inhabited (PVI, %), richness, and evenness decreased. Grazing pressure, macrophyte coverage, piscivore biomass, phytoplankton richness, and evenness decreased significantly with both increasing TN and temperature. Temperature and nutrients also separated the northern highland lakes from other lakes in a non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis. Additionally, salinity reduced richness and evenness of phytoplankton and zooplankton. Our results indicate major changes in lake structure and functioning with warming and eutrophication, and highlight the need for strict control of nutrients and water use. C1 [Beklioglu, Meryem; Bucak, Tuba; Levi, Eti E.; Erdogan, Seyda; Ozen, Arda; Filiz, Nur; Bezirci, Gizem; Cakiroglu, Ayse Idil; Tavsanoglu, U. Nihan; Ozkan, Korhan; Jeppesen, Erik] Middle East Tech Univ, Dept Biol Sci, Limnol Lab, Ankara, Turkey. [Gokce, Didem] Inonu Univ, Dept Biol, Malatya, Turkey. [Demir, Nilsun] Ankara Univ, Fac Agr, Dept Fisheries & Aquaculture, Ankara, Turkey. [Ozulug, Mufit] Istanbul Univ, Fac Sci, Dept Biol, Istanbul, Turkey. [Duran, Mustafa] Pamukkale Univ, Fac Arts & Sci, Hydrobiol Lab, Denizli, Turkey. [Brucet, Sandra] Univ Vic, Aquat Ecol Grp, Cent Univ Catalonia, Vic, Spain. [Brucet, Sandra] ICREA, Catalan Inst Res & Adv Studies, Barcelona, Spain. [Levi, Eti E.; Jeppesen, Erik] Aarhus Univ, Dept Biosci & Arctic Res Ctr ARC, Silkeborg, Denmark. [Jeppesen, Erik] Sino Danish Ctr Educ & Res SDC, Beijing, Peoples R China. [Beklioglu, Meryem; Filiz, Nur] Middle East Tech Univ, Ctr Ecosyst Res & Implementat, Ankara, Turkey. [Bucak, Tuba] Nat Conservat Ctr DKM, Ankara, Turkey. [Erdogan, Seyda] Yozgat Bozok Univ, Fac Sci & Art, Dept Biol, Yozgat, Turkey. [Ozen, Arda] Cankiri Karatekin Univ, Dept Forest Engn, Cankiri, Turkey. [Bezirci, Gizem] British Embassy Sch, Ankara, Turkey. [Tavsanoglu, U. Nihan] Cankiri Karatekin Univ, Eldivan Vocat Sch Hlth Serv, Dept Environm Hlth, Cankiri, Turkey. [Ozkan, Korhan] Middle East Tech Univ, Inst Marine Sci, Mersin, Turkey.
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