Different responses of phytoplankton and zooplankton communities to current changing coastal environments

Marine plankton are faced with novel challenges associated with environmental changes such as ocean acidi-fication, warming, and eutrophication. However, data on the effects of simultaneous environmental changes on complex natural communities in coastal ecosystems are relatively limited. Here we made a systematic analysis of biological and environmental parameters in the Bohai Sea over the past three years to suggest that plankton communities responded differently to current changing coastal environments, with the increase of phytoplankton and the decrease of zooplankton. These different changes of phyto-and zooplankton potentially resulted from the fact that both the effect of acidification as a result of pH decline and the effect of warming as a consequence of increasing temperature favored phytoplankton over zooplankton at present. Furthermore, water eutrophication and salinity as well as heavy metals Hg, Zn, and As had more or less diverse consequences for the dynamics of phytoplankton and zooplankton. Differently, with ongoing climate change, we also revealed that both phyto-plankton and zooplankton would decrease in the future under the influence of interactions between acidification and warming.

Automated summary

Based on a systematic analysis of biological and environmental parameters in the Bohai Sea over the past three years, this study suggests that marine plankton communities in coastal ecosystems respond differently to current environmental changes, with an increase in phytoplankton and a decrease in zooplankton. The effect of acidification and warming favors phytoplankton over zooplankton, while water eutrophication, salinity, and heavy metals have diverse consequences on the dynamics of both phytoplankton and zooplankton. Furthermore, interactions between acidification and warming are predicted to lead to a decrease in both phytoplankton and zooplankton in the future.