Phytoplankton mean cell size and total biomass increase with nutrients are driven by both species composition and evolution of plasticity - UTU Research Portal

A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Phytoplankton mean cell size and total biomass increase with nutrients are driven by both species composition and evolution of plasticity

Authors: Matthiessen, Birte; Hattich, Giannina S. I.; Pulina, Silvia; Hansen, Thomas; Reusch, Thorsten B. H.; Hamer, Jorin

Publisher: WILEY

Publishing place: HOBOKEN

Publication year: 2025

Journal: Oikos

Journal name in source: OIKOS

Journal acronym: OIKOS

Article number: e10910

Volume: 2025

Issue: 1

Number of pages: 15

ISSN: 0030-1299

eISSN: 1600-0706

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.10910

Web address : https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.10910

Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/484274174

Abstract

Community trait variability can arise from the species, genotypic, or individual plastic level. Trait changes on these levels can occur simultaneously, interact, and potentially translate to community functioning. Thus, they are crucial to realistically predict community functional changes. Using a phytoplankton model community comprising a diatom and a coccolithophore each with nine genotypes varying in cell size, we conducted a selection experiment over 130 generations towards nutrient availability. According to our expectations, mean community cell size and total biomass increased with increasing nutrient availability. Interspecifically, these community level changes were driven by shifts in species composition towards the larger diatom. Changes caused by intraspecific shifts did not result from sorting according to genotypes' standing variation in cell size in the first place. Instead, intraspecific changes likely resulted from the selection for a highly plastic diatom genotype, which led to a phenotypic distribution with larger cells in high and smaller cells in lower nutrient concentrations. We suggest that besides interspecific species sorting, the evolution of size plasticity through genotype selection represented an intraspecific contribution to mean community size increase with increasing nutrient availability that ultimately translated to increased total biomass. Our results demonstrate that all three levels on which trait changes can occur, regulate phytoplankton community-level functional changes and thus should be considered when predicting community change on ecological time scales.

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Oikos - 2024 - Matthiessen - Phytoplankton mean cell size and total biomass increase with nutrients are driven by both.pdf

Funding information in the publication:
Main funding was provided through DFG priority program SPP 1704 DynaTrait: Grant to Birte Matthiessen MA5058/2-2 and grant to Thorsten Reusch RE1708/17-2. The research stay of Silvia Pulina was funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Programma Mobilità Giovani Ricercatori of the University of Sassari (Italy).