TY - JOUR
T1 - Atmospheric deposition effects on plankton communities in the Eastern Mediterranean
T2 - A mesocosm experimental approach
AU - Tsagaraki, Tatiana M.
AU - Herut, Barak
AU - Rahav, Eyal
AU - Berman Frank, Ilana R.
AU - Tsiola, Anastasia
AU - Tsapakis, Manolis
AU - Giannakourou, Antonia
AU - Gogou, Alexandra
AU - Panagiotopoulos, Christos
AU - Violaki, Kalliopi
AU - Psarra, Stella
AU - Lagaria, Anna
AU - Christou, Epaminondas D.
AU - Papageorgiou, Nafsika
AU - Zervoudaki, Soultana
AU - de Puelles, Ma L.Fernandez
AU - Nikolioudakis, Nikolaos
AU - Meador, Travis B.
AU - Tanaka, Tsuneo
AU - Pedrotti, Maria L.
AU - Krom, Michael D.
AU - Pitta, Paraskevi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Tsagaraki, Herut, Rahav, Berman Frank, Tsiola, Tsapakis, Giannakourou, Gogou, Panagiotopoulos, Violaki, Psarra, Lagaria, Christou, Papageorgiou, Zervoudaki, Puelles, Nikolioudakis, Meador, Tanaka, Pedrotti, Krom and Pitta.
PY - 2017/7/4
Y1 - 2017/7/4
N2 - The effects of atmospheric deposition on plankton community structure were examined during a mesocosm experiment using water from the Cretan Sea (Eastern Mediterranean), an area with a high frequency of atmospheric aerosol deposition events. The experiment was carried out under spring-summer conditions (May 2012). The main objective was to study the changes induced from a single deposition event, on the autotrophic and heterotrophic surface microbial populations, from viruses to zooplankton. To this end, the effects of Saharan dust addition were compared to the effects of mixed aerosol deposition on the plankton community over 9 days. The effects of the dust addition seemed to propagate throughout the food-web, with changes observed in nearly all of the measured parameters up to copepods. The dust input stimulated increased productivity, both bacterial and primary. Picoplankton, both autotrophic and heterotrophic capitalized on the changes in nutrient availability and microzooplankton abundance also increased due to increased availability of prey. Five days after the simulated deposition, copepods also responded, with an increase in egg production. The results suggest that nutrients were transported up the food web through autotrophs, which were favored by the Nitrogen supplied through both treatments. Although, the effects of individual events are generally short lived, increased deposition frequency and magnitude of events is expected in the area, due to predicted reduction in rainfall and increase in temperature, which can lead to more persistent changes in plankton community structure. Here we demonstrate how a single dust deposition event leads to enhancement of phytoplankton and microzooplankton and can eventually, through copepods, transport more nutrients up the food web in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
AB - The effects of atmospheric deposition on plankton community structure were examined during a mesocosm experiment using water from the Cretan Sea (Eastern Mediterranean), an area with a high frequency of atmospheric aerosol deposition events. The experiment was carried out under spring-summer conditions (May 2012). The main objective was to study the changes induced from a single deposition event, on the autotrophic and heterotrophic surface microbial populations, from viruses to zooplankton. To this end, the effects of Saharan dust addition were compared to the effects of mixed aerosol deposition on the plankton community over 9 days. The effects of the dust addition seemed to propagate throughout the food-web, with changes observed in nearly all of the measured parameters up to copepods. The dust input stimulated increased productivity, both bacterial and primary. Picoplankton, both autotrophic and heterotrophic capitalized on the changes in nutrient availability and microzooplankton abundance also increased due to increased availability of prey. Five days after the simulated deposition, copepods also responded, with an increase in egg production. The results suggest that nutrients were transported up the food web through autotrophs, which were favored by the Nitrogen supplied through both treatments. Although, the effects of individual events are generally short lived, increased deposition frequency and magnitude of events is expected in the area, due to predicted reduction in rainfall and increase in temperature, which can lead to more persistent changes in plankton community structure. Here we demonstrate how a single dust deposition event leads to enhancement of phytoplankton and microzooplankton and can eventually, through copepods, transport more nutrients up the food web in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
KW - Dust deposition
KW - Eastern Mediterranean
KW - Mesocosm
KW - Microbial food-web
KW - Phytoplankton
KW - Zooplankton
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85024376717&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fmars.2017.00210
DO - 10.3389/fmars.2017.00210
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AN - SCOPUS:85024376717
SN - 2296-7745
VL - 4
JO - Frontiers in Marine Science
JF - Frontiers in Marine Science
IS - JUL
M1 - 210
ER -