Data from: Changing climate cues differentially alter zooplankton dormancy dynamics across latitudes

• Main Authors: Jones, Natalie T., Gilbert, Benjamin
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Life sciences; medicine and health care; bet hedging; common garden experiment; Spring warming; aquatic zooplankton species diversity; dormancy termination; diapause; optimal hatching fraction; resurrection ecology; temporal dispersal; Beaver Lake; Cobb Lake; Dezadeash Lake; Frenchman Lake; Heffley Lake; Kentucky Lake; Kluane Lake; Lakelse Lake; Little Atlin Lake; Maxan Lake; McConnel Lake; Meziadin Lake; Minto Lake; Ness Lake; Pemberton Lake; Pillar Lake; Pinantin Lake; Pine Lake; Seymour Lake; Sullivan Lake; Summit Lake; Walloper Lake; Watson Lake; Wheeler Lake; White Lake; Western Canada; envir; geo; Canada; Sullivan; Seymour; Pillar; Atlin; Atlin Lake; Dezadeash; Lakelse; McConnel; Copepods
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.r80d3

1. In seasonal climates, dormancy is a common strategy that structures biodiversity and is necessary for the persistence of many species. Climate change will likely alter dormancy dynamics in zooplankton, the basis of aquatic food webs, by altering two important hatching cues: mean temperatures during the ice-free season, and mean day length when lakes become ice free. Theory suggests that these changes could alter diversity, hatchling abundances and phenology within lakes, and that these responses may diverge across latitudes due to differences in optimal hatching cues and strategies. 2. To examine the role of temperature and day length on hatching dynamics, we collected sediment from 25 lakes across a 1800 km latitudinal gradient and exposed sediment samples to a factorial combination of two photoperiods (12 and 16 hours) and two temperatures (8°C and 12 °C) representative of historical southern (short photoperiod, warm) and northern (long photoperiod, cool) lake conditions. We tested whether sensitivity to these hatching cues varies by latitudinal origin and differs among taxa. 3. Higher temperatures advanced phenology for all taxa, and these advances were greatest for cladocerans followed by copepods and rotifers. Although phenology differed among taxa, the effect of temperature did not vary with latitude. The latitudinal origin of the egg bank influenced egg abundance and hatchling abundance and diversity, with these latter effects varying with taxa, temperature and photoperiod. 4. Copepod hatchling abundances peaked at mid latitudes in the high temperature and long photoperiod treatments, whereas hatchling abundances of other zooplankton were greatest at low latitudes and high temperature. The overall diversity of crustacean zooplankton (copepods and cladocerans) also reflected distinct responses of each taxa to our treatments, with the greatest diversity occurring at mid latitudes (~56° N) in the shorter photoperiod treatment. 5. Our results demonstrate that hatching cues differ for broad taxonomic groups ...