The impact of climate warming on the diurnal dynamics of the microbial loop: Ice cover vs. lack of ice cover on dystrophic lakes

One of the effects of warming is earlier retreat of the ice cover or a complete lack of ice cover on water bodies in the winter. However, there is still no information on how climate warming affects the 24-hour dynamics of the planktonic microbial loop in winter. The aim of this investigation was to assess the diurnal dynamics of the taxonomic composition and abundance of microbial communities in experimentally reproduced conditions (samples from under the ice, +2, +4 and +8 degrees C) and to analyse the relationships between components of the microbial loop in relation to physical and chemical parameters. Samples were taken in winter from three dystrophic reservoir. The biological and physicochemical parameters in the water were analysed at the start (day 0), 15 and end of the experiment (day 30) over a 24-hour cycle. The increase in temperature caused an increase in the numbers of predators (particularly testate amoebae and ciliates) and a reduction in the body size of individual populations. During the period with ice cover, marked dominance of mixotrophic testate amoeba (Hyalosphenia papilio) and ciliates (Paramecium bursaria) was observed, while the increase in temperature caused an increase in the proportion of bacterivorous ciliates (Cinetochilum margaritaceum). (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

This study investigated the impact of climate warming on the winter planktonic microbial loop and found that an increase in temperature led to an increase in predators and a decrease in individual body size. During ice cover periods, mixotrophic testate amoeba and ciliates dominated, while an increase in temperature resulted in an increase in bacterivorous ciliates.