Description: The impacts of biochemicals driving food web processes are under investigation for just the last few decades. In addition, as jellyfish are drawing increasing attentions because of their mass developments and of their potential capacity of driving food web structures and energy flow by ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ controls. We here show that the provision with the biochemical complex thiamin (vitamin B1) to the common phytoplankton Rhodomonas baltica altered its fatty acid (FA) pattern towards 3-highly-unsaturated FAs (3-HUFA) and that this pattern was further transferred up to the zooplankton consumer, the copepod Acartia tonsa. However, polyps of the Jellyfish Aurelia aurita feeding on A. tonsa only had a low relative 3-HUFA content, especially due to a reduction in 22:63 (DHA), but elevated levels of 20:46 (ARA). The high proportion of the -6 HUFA, ARA in polyps may provide evidence for preferential conversion of ARA in polyps, eventually from DHA in a so far unknown pathway. In contrast to A. tonsa, newly hatched A. salina nauplii used as food for A. aurita polyps were almost devoid of HUFA, but contained high levels of C18 polyunsaturated FAs (C18-PUFA). Consequently, polyps feeding on them contained few HUFA, while high levels of C18-PUFA predominated. This suggests that A. aurita polyps cannot efficiently convert 3 C18-PUFA to 3-HUFA. In addition, besides a decrease in saturated FAs, especially an increase in HUFA in A. aurita polyps with decreasing temperature was observed, for which the dietary provision with HUFA seemed to be critical. Altering the FA pattern as a response of temperature reflects an adaptation to seasonal changes and may be related to their life history plasticity.

Description: Climate change has profound impacts on marine biodiversity and biodiversity changes in turn might affect the community sensitivity to impacts of abiotic changes. We used mesocosm experiments and Next Generation Sequencing to study the response of the natural Baltic and Mediterranean unicellular eukaryotic plankton communities (control and +6oC heat shock) to subsequent salinity changes (-5 psu, +5 psu). The impact on Operational Taxonomic Unit (OTU) richness, taxonomic and functional composition and rRNA:rDNA ratios were examined. Our results showed that heat shock leads to lower OTU richness (21% fewer OTUs in the Baltic and 14% fewer in the Mediterranean) and a shift in composition towards pico- and nanophytoplankton and heterotrophic related OTUs. Heat shock also leads to increased rRNA:rDNA ratios for pico- and micrograzers. Less than 18% of shared OTUs were found among the different salinities indicating the crucial role of salinity in shaping communities. The response of rRNA:rDNA ratios varied highly after salinity changes. In both experiments the diversity decrease brought about by heat shock influenced the sensitivity to salinity changes. The heat shock either decreased or increased the sensitivity of the remaining community, depending on whether it removed the more salinity-sensitive or the salinity-tolerant taxa.

Description: Marine food webs form the major component of the biological pump and play a central role in the global carbon (C) cycle. Understanding the response of particular processes in marine food webs to changing environments is a prerequisite to predict changes in ecological functioning in the future ocean. Here, we experimentally assessed the effects of nitrogen:phosphorus (N:P) supply ratios (the molar ratios 10:1, 24:1, and 63:1) on elemental and biochemical quality of marine phytoplankton Rhodomonas sp., and the interactions between food quantity and quality on stoichiometric C:N:P, fatty acids (FAs) and reproductions in copepods Acartia tonsa. Overall, the stoichiometry of A. tonsa was to some extent homeostatic in response to the changing algal C:N and C:P ratios, with significant changes in C:N ratios of A. tonsa observed, especially under higher food quantities. The relative gross growth efficiencies (GGEs) for C and N (and P) were analyzed, revealing that copepods may achieve homeostasis by lowering the GGE for C while increasing it for the limiting nutrient. Egg production rates in A. tonsa were lowest on nutrient deficient diets under low food quantities. Reduced egg production rates may be attributed to the lowered GGEs for C and reduced transfer efficiency of essential FAs between phytoplankton and copepods, indicating interactive-essential effects of elements and FAs on copepod production. Our results highlight that nutrient deficiency in the environments may reduce energy transfer efficiency at the base of food webs by altering phytoplankton chemical composition, which can interact with food quantity and have implications on food web dynamics in the changing ocean.

Description: The Thessaloniki Bay is a eutrophic coastal area which has been characterized in recent years by frequent and intense phytoplankton blooms and red tides. The aim of the study was to investigate the underexplored diversity of marine unicellular eukaryotes in four different sampling sites in Thessaloniki Bay during a year of plankton blooms, red tides, and mucilage aggregates. High-Throughput Sequencing (HTS) was applied in extracted DNA from weekly water samples targeting the 18S rRNA gene. In almost all samples, phytoplankton blooms and/or red tides and mucilage aggregates were observed. The metabarcoding analysis has detected the known unicellular eukaryotic groups frequently observed in the Bay, dominated by Bacillariophyta and Dinoflagellata, and revealed taxonomic groups previously undetected in the study area (MALVs, MAST, and Cercozoa). The dominant OTUs were closely related to species known to participate in red tides, harmful blooms, and mucilage aggregates. Other OTUs, present also during the blooms in low abundance (number of reads), were closely related to known harmful species, suggesting the occurrence of rare taxa with potential negative impacts on human health not detectable with classical microscopy. Overall, the unicellular eukaryote assemblages showed temporal patterns rather than small-scale spatial separation responding to the variability of physical and chemical factors.

Description: Cyanobacterial blooms are the most important and best studied type of harmful algal blooms in fresh waters and brackish coastal seas. We here review how and to which extent they resist grazing by zooplankton, how zooplankton responds to cyanobacterial blooms and how these effects are further transmitted to fish. Size, toxicity and poor nutritional value are widespread mechanisms of grazing defense by cyanobacteria. In some cases, defenses are inducible, in some they are obligate. However, to some extent zooplankton overcome grazing resistance, partly after evolutionary adaptation. Cyanotoxins are also harmful to fish and may cause fish kills. However, some fish species feed on Cyanobacteria, are able to reduce their abundance, and grow on a cyanobacterial diet. While reduced edibility for crustacean zooplankton tends to elongate the food chain from primary producers to fish, direct feeding by fish tends to shorten it. The few available comparative studies relating fish yield to nutrients or phytoplankton provide no indication that cyanobacteria should reduce the ratio fish production: primary production.

Description: Bacterial and archaeal diversity and succession were studied during a mesocosm experiment that investigated whether changing light regimes could affect the onset of phytoplankton blooms. For this, 454-pyrosequencing of the bacterial V1-V3 and archaeal V3-V9 16S rRNA regions was performed in samples collected from four mesocosms receiving different light irradiances at the beginning and the end of the experiment and during phytoplankton growth. In total, 46 bacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) with ≥1% relative abundance occurred (22-34 OTUs per mesocosm). OTUs were affiliated mainly with Rhodobacteraceae, Flavobacteriaceae and Alteromonadaceae. The four mesocosms shared 11 abundant OTUs. Dominance increased at the beginning of phytoplankton growth in all treatments and decreased thereafter. Maximum dominance was found in the mesocosms with high irradiances. Overall, specific bacterial OTUs had different responses in terms of relative abundance under in situ and high light intensities, and an early phytoplankton bloom resulted in different bacterial community structures both at high (family) and low (OTU) taxonomic levels. Thus, bacterial community structure and succession are affected by light regime, both directly and indirectly, which may have implications for an ecosystem's response to environmental changes.

Description: We investigated the plankton community composition and abundance in the urban marine environment of Thessaloniki Bay. We collected water samples weekly from March 2017 to February 2018 at the coastal front of Thessaloniki city center and monthly samples from three other inshore sites along the urban front of the bay. During the study period, conspicuous and successive phytoplankton blooms, dominated by known mucilage-producing diatoms alternated with red tide events formed by the dinoflagellates Noctiluca scintillans and Spatulodinium pseudonoctiluca, and an extensive mucilage aggregate phenomenon, which appeared in late June 2017. At least 11 known harmful algae were identified throughout the study, with the increase in the abundance of the known harmful dinoflagellate Dinophysis cf. acuminata occurring in October and November 2017. Finally, a red tide caused by the photosynthetic ciliate Mesodinium rubrum on December 2017 was conspicuous throughout the sampling sites. The above-mentioned harmful blooms and red tides were linked to high nutrient concentrations and eutrophication. This paper provides an overview of eutrophication impacts on the response of the unicellular eukaryotic plankton organisms and their impact on water quality and ecosystem services

Description: Previous studies with Baltic Sea phytoplankton combining elevated seawater temperature with CO2 revealed the importance of size trait‐based analyses, in particular dividing the plankton into edible (〉5 and 〈100 μm) and inedible ([removed]100 μm) size classes for mesozoopankton grazers. While the edible phytoplankton responded predominantly negative to warming and the inedible group stayed unaffected or increased, independent from edibility most phytoplankton groups gained from CO2. Because the ratio between edible and inedible taxa changes profoundly over seasons, we investigated if community responses can be predicted according to the prevailing composition of edible and inedible groups. We experimentally explored the combined effects of elevated temperatures and CO2 concentrations on a late‐summer Baltic Sea community. Total phytoplankton significantly increased in response to elevated CO2 in particular in combination with temperature, driven by a significant gain of the inedible 〈5 μm fraction and large filamentous cyanobacteria. Large flagellates disappeared. The edible group was low as usual in summer and decreased with both factors due to enhanced copepod grazing and overall decline of small flagellates. Our results emphasize that the responses of summer communities are complex, but can be predicted by the composition and dominance of size classes and groups.

Description: Ocean-related global change has strongly affected the competition between key marine phytoplankton groups, such as diatoms and dinoflagellates, especially with the deleterious consequency of the increasing occurrence of harmful algal blooms. The dominance of diatoms generally shifts toward that of dinoflagellates in response to increasing temperature and reduced nutrient availability; however, contradictory findings have also been observed in certain sea areas. A key challenge in ecology and biogeochemistry is to quantitatively determine the effects of multiple environmental factors on the diatom-dinoflagellate community and the related changes in elemental and biochemical composition. Here, we test the interplay between temperature, nutrient concentrations and their ratios on marine diatom-dinoflagellate competition and chemical composition using bi-algal competition experiments. The ubiquitous diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum and dinoflagellate Prorocentrum minimum were cultivated semi-continuously, provided with different N and P concentrations (three different levels) and ratios (10:1, 24:1, and 63:1 molar ratios) under three temperatures (12, 18, and 24°C). The responses of diatom-dinoflagellate competition were analyzed by a Lotka-Volterra model and quantified by generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) and generalized additive models (GAMs). The changes in nutrient concentrations significantly affected diatom-dinoflagellate competition, causing a competitive superiority of the diatoms at high nutrient concentrations, independent of temperature and N:P supply ratios. Interestingly, the effect amplitude of nutrient concentrations varied with different temperatures, showing a switch back toward a competitive superiority of the dinoflagellates at the highest temperature and at very high nutrient concentrations. The ratios of particulate organic nitrogen to phosphorus showed significant negative correlations with increasing diatoms/dinoflagellates ratios, while lipid biomarkers (fatty acids and sterols) correlated positively with increasing diatoms/dinoflagellates ratios over the entire ranges of temperature, N and P concentrations and N:P ratios. Our results indicate that the integration of phytoplankton community structure and chemical composition provides an important step forward to quantitatively understand and predict how phytoplankton community changes affect ecosystem functions and biogeochemical cycles in the ocean.