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The response of two submerged macrophytes and periphyton to elevated temperatures in the presence and absence of snails: a microcosm approach

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Abstract

Global warming may affect snail–periphyton–macrophyte relationships in lakes with implications also for water clarity. We conducted a 40-day aquaria experiment to elucidate the response of submerged macrophytes and periphyton on real and artificial plants to elevated temperatures (3°C) under eutrophic conditions, with and without snails present. With snails, the biomass and length of Vallisneria spinulosa leaves increased more at the high temperature, and at both temperatures growth was higher than in absence of snails. The biomass of periphyton on V. spinulosa as well as on artificial plants was higher at the highest temperature in the absence but not in the presence of snails. The biomass of Potamogeton crispus (in a decaying state) declined in all treatments and was not affected by temperature or snails. While total snail biomass did not differ between temperatures, lower abundance of adults (size >1 cm) was observed at the high temperatures. We conclude that the effect of elevated temperature on the snail–periphyton–macrophyte relationship in summer differs among macrophyte species in active growth or senescent species in subtropical lakes and that snails, when abundant, improve the chances of maintaining actively growing macrophytes under eutrophic conditions, and more so in a warmer future with potentially denser growth of periphyton.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by Wuhan Academic Leader Program (201051730562), CSC (The China Scholarship Council), CRES (Danish Strategic Research Council), CLEAR (a Villum Kann Rasmussen Centre of Excellence project), the EU-FP7 project REFRESH (Adaptive strategies to Mitigate the Impacts of Climate Change on European Freshwater Ecosystems, Contract No.: 244121) and the MARS project (Managing Aquatic ecosystems and water Resources under multiple Stress) funded under the 7th EU Framework Programme, Theme 6 (Environment including Climate Change), Contract No.: 603378 (http://www.mars-project.eu). We thank both reviewers and the associate editor for their insightful comments on the paper. We thank Anne Mette Poulsen for valuable editorial comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Yu Cao & Wei Li

  2. Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Vejlsøvej 25, PO Box 314, 8600, Silkeborg, Denmark

    Yu Cao & Erik Jeppesen

  3. Sino-Danish Centre for Education and Research (SDC), Beijing, China

    Wei Li & Erik Jeppesen

  4. Hubei Key Laboratory of Wetland Evolution & Ecological Restoration, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Wei Li

  5. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Yu Cao

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  1. Yu Cao
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Correspondence to Wei Li.

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Handling editor: Sidinei Magela Thomaz

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Cao, Y., Li, W. & Jeppesen, E. The response of two submerged macrophytes and periphyton to elevated temperatures in the presence and absence of snails: a microcosm approach. Hydrobiologia 738, 49–59 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-014-1914-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-014-1914-5

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