Extreme drought favors potential mixotrophic organisms in tropical semi-arid reservoirs

Mariana R.A. Costa; Rosemberg F. Menezes; Hugo Sarmento; José L. Attayde; Leonel da S.L. Sternberg; Vanessa Becker

doi:10.1007/s10750-018-3583-2

Extreme drought favors potential mixotrophic organisms in tropical semi-arid reservoirs

Mariana R.A. Costa, Rosemberg F. Menezes, Hugo Sarmento, José L. Attayde, Leonel da S.L. Sternberg, Vanessa Becker

Biology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Climate change is affecting the global hydrological cycle and is causing drastic changes in the freshwater hydrological regime. Water level (WL) reduction caused by drought tends to increase the concentration of nutrients favoring the dominance of cyanobacteria. We hypothesized that the WL reduction favors the dominance of cyanobacteria at regular dry conditions, but at extremely dry events mixotrophic algae would thrive because of light limitation due to increased resuspension of sediments on the water column. To test our hypothesis, we compared phytoplankton traits and water quality variables between two sets of reservoirs located in two watersheds with contrasting precipitation regimes within the Brazilian semi-arid. The reservoirs were compared in a dry period and in an extremely dry period to evaluate the response of the variables to an extreme drought. Drought intensification decreased the reservoirs’ WL and water transparency and increased the total phosphorous. Cyanobacteria dominated in the dry period, and the contribution of mixotrophic algae increased in the extremely dry period. Thus, phytoplankton with mixotrophic potential was favored by the extreme drought. This result suggests that this can be one possible scenario for phytoplankton communities in reservoirs of semi-arid regions if extreme droughts become more frequent because of climate change.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	43-54
Number of pages	12
Journal	Hydrobiologia
Volume	831
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-018-3583-2
State	Published - Mar 1 2019

Keywords

Climate change
Cyanobacteria
Functional traits
Phytoplankton
Water level reduction
Water quality

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Aquatic Science

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@article{10afd360c0c44272bca4339f53e4fd51,

title = "Extreme drought favors potential mixotrophic organisms in tropical semi-arid reservoirs",

abstract = "Climate change is affecting the global hydrological cycle and is causing drastic changes in the freshwater hydrological regime. Water level (WL) reduction caused by drought tends to increase the concentration of nutrients favoring the dominance of cyanobacteria. We hypothesized that the WL reduction favors the dominance of cyanobacteria at regular dry conditions, but at extremely dry events mixotrophic algae would thrive because of light limitation due to increased resuspension of sediments on the water column. To test our hypothesis, we compared phytoplankton traits and water quality variables between two sets of reservoirs located in two watersheds with contrasting precipitation regimes within the Brazilian semi-arid. The reservoirs were compared in a dry period and in an extremely dry period to evaluate the response of the variables to an extreme drought. Drought intensification decreased the reservoirs{\textquoteright} WL and water transparency and increased the total phosphorous. Cyanobacteria dominated in the dry period, and the contribution of mixotrophic algae increased in the extremely dry period. Thus, phytoplankton with mixotrophic potential was favored by the extreme drought. This result suggests that this can be one possible scenario for phytoplankton communities in reservoirs of semi-arid regions if extreme droughts become more frequent because of climate change.",

keywords = "Climate change, Cyanobacteria, Functional traits, Phytoplankton, Water level reduction, Water quality",

author = "Costa, {Mariana R.A.} and Menezes, {Rosemberg F.} and Hugo Sarmento and Attayde, {Jos{\'e} L.} and Sternberg, {Leonel da S.L.} and Vanessa Becker",

note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient{\'i}fico e Tecnol{\'o}gico (CNPq) (Process Numbers: 442484/2014-3/ MCTI/CNPq/Universal 14/2014 and 446138/2015-0/MCTI/ CNPq/ANA/N°23/2015) and Process Numbers 407783/2016-4 CNPq/Universal, Coordenac¸{\~a}o de Aperfeic¸oamento de Pessoal de N{\'i}vel Superior (CAPES/PNPD–Project N°: 2304/2011), Fundac¸{\~a}o de Pesquisa de S{\~a}o Paulo (FAPESP) (Processes: 2014/14139-3 and 2016/50494-8). We are grateful to CAPES for granting the Ph.D. scholarship (M.R.A. Costa). We also thank the many people who helped during the field work and",

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doi = "10.1007/s10750-018-3583-2",

language = "English (US)",

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T1 - Extreme drought favors potential mixotrophic organisms in tropical semi-arid reservoirs

AU - Costa, Mariana R.A.

AU - Menezes, Rosemberg F.

AU - Sarmento, Hugo

AU - Attayde, José L.

AU - Sternberg, Leonel da S.L.

AU - Becker, Vanessa

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (Process Numbers: 442484/2014-3/ MCTI/CNPq/Universal 14/2014 and 446138/2015-0/MCTI/ CNPq/ANA/N°23/2015) and Process Numbers 407783/2016-4 CNPq/Universal, Coordenac¸ão de Aperfeic¸oamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES/PNPD–Project N°: 2304/2011), Fundac¸ão de Pesquisa de São Paulo (FAPESP) (Processes: 2014/14139-3 and 2016/50494-8). We are grateful to CAPES for granting the Ph.D. scholarship (M.R.A. Costa). We also thank the many people who helped during the field work and

PY - 2019/3/1

Y1 - 2019/3/1

N2 - Climate change is affecting the global hydrological cycle and is causing drastic changes in the freshwater hydrological regime. Water level (WL) reduction caused by drought tends to increase the concentration of nutrients favoring the dominance of cyanobacteria. We hypothesized that the WL reduction favors the dominance of cyanobacteria at regular dry conditions, but at extremely dry events mixotrophic algae would thrive because of light limitation due to increased resuspension of sediments on the water column. To test our hypothesis, we compared phytoplankton traits and water quality variables between two sets of reservoirs located in two watersheds with contrasting precipitation regimes within the Brazilian semi-arid. The reservoirs were compared in a dry period and in an extremely dry period to evaluate the response of the variables to an extreme drought. Drought intensification decreased the reservoirs’ WL and water transparency and increased the total phosphorous. Cyanobacteria dominated in the dry period, and the contribution of mixotrophic algae increased in the extremely dry period. Thus, phytoplankton with mixotrophic potential was favored by the extreme drought. This result suggests that this can be one possible scenario for phytoplankton communities in reservoirs of semi-arid regions if extreme droughts become more frequent because of climate change.

AB - Climate change is affecting the global hydrological cycle and is causing drastic changes in the freshwater hydrological regime. Water level (WL) reduction caused by drought tends to increase the concentration of nutrients favoring the dominance of cyanobacteria. We hypothesized that the WL reduction favors the dominance of cyanobacteria at regular dry conditions, but at extremely dry events mixotrophic algae would thrive because of light limitation due to increased resuspension of sediments on the water column. To test our hypothesis, we compared phytoplankton traits and water quality variables between two sets of reservoirs located in two watersheds with contrasting precipitation regimes within the Brazilian semi-arid. The reservoirs were compared in a dry period and in an extremely dry period to evaluate the response of the variables to an extreme drought. Drought intensification decreased the reservoirs’ WL and water transparency and increased the total phosphorous. Cyanobacteria dominated in the dry period, and the contribution of mixotrophic algae increased in the extremely dry period. Thus, phytoplankton with mixotrophic potential was favored by the extreme drought. This result suggests that this can be one possible scenario for phytoplankton communities in reservoirs of semi-arid regions if extreme droughts become more frequent because of climate change.

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KW - Functional traits

KW - Phytoplankton

KW - Water level reduction

KW - Water quality

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