Ecological history affects zooplankton community responses to acidification

The effects of ecological history are frequently ignored in attempts to predict community responses to environmental change. In this study, we explored the possibility that ecological history can cause differences in community responses to perturbation using parallel acidification experiments in three sites with different pH histories in the Northern Highland Lake District of Wisconsin, USA. In Trout Lake, high acid neutralizing capacity had historically buffered changes in pH. In contrast, the two basins of Little Rock Lake (Little Rock-Reference and Little Rock-Treatment) had experienced seasonal fluctuations in pH. Furthermore, the two lake basins were separated with a curtain and Little Rock-Treatment was experimentally acidified in the late 1980s. In each site, we conducted mesocosm experiments to compare zooplankton community dynamics in control (ambient pH) and acidified (pH 4.7) treatments. Zooplankton community responses were strongest in Trout Lake and weakest in Little Rock-Treatment suggesting...

[1]  F. H. Rodd,et al.  Evaluation of the Rate of Evolution in Natural Populations of Guppies (Poecilia reticulata) , 1997, Science.

[2]  J. N. Thompson,et al.  Rapid evolution as an ecological process. , 1998, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[3]  Michael W. Smith,et al.  Rapid Evolution in a Post-Thermal Environment , 1983 .

[4]  B. Walker.  Biodiversity and Ecological Redundancy , 1992 .

[5]  T. Kratz,et al.  Zooplankton Community Responses during Recovery from Acidification in Little Rock Lake, Wisconsin , 1998 .

[6]  D. Levin,et al.  The Ecological and Genetic Consequences of Density-Dependent Regulation in Plants , 1980 .

[7]  P. Muir.  Disturbance effects on structure and tree species composition of Pinuscontorta forests in western Montana , 1993 .

[8]  D. Tilman.  Biodiversity: Population Versus Ecosystem Stability , 1995 .

[9]  A. J. Tessier,et al.  Variation in offspring size in Daphnia and consequences for individual fitness , 1989 .

[10]  G. Likens,et al.  Toxicity of aluminum and hydrogen ions to Daphnia catawba, Holopedium gibberum, Chaoborus punctipennis, and Chironomus anthrocinus from Mirror Lake, New Hampshire , 1985 .

[11]  K. Havens.  Aluminum binding to ion exchange sites in acid-sensitive versus acid-tolerant cladocerans. , 1990, Environmental pollution.

[12]  J. Magnuson,et al.  Experimental acidification of Little Rock Lake, Wisconsin , 1986 .

[13]  K. Webster,et al.  Complex biological responses to the experimental acidification of Little Rock Lake, Wisconsin, USA. , 1992, Environmental pollution.

[14]  T. Frost,et al.  Indirect effects of lake acidification on Chaoborus population dynamics: the role of food limitation and predation , 1997 .

[15]  D. H. Knight,et al.  Aims and Methods of Vegetation Ecology , 1974 .

[16]  T. Hughes.  Community Structure and Diversity of Coral Reefs: The Role of History , 1989 .

[17]  R. Cook,et al.  Winter and Spring pH Depressions in Northern Wisconsin Lakes Caused by Increases in pCO2 , 1987 .

[18]  W. Hargrove,et al.  EFFECTS OF FIRE SIZE AND PATTERN ON EARLY SUCCESSION IN YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK , 1997 .

[19]  J. Magnuson,et al.  Patterns in the Species Composition and Richness of Fish Assemblages in Northern Wisconsin Lakes , 1982 .

[20]  G. Wyngaard.  GENETIC DIFFERENTIATION OF LIFE HISTORY TRAITS IN POPULATIONS OF MESOCYCLOPS EDAX (CRUSTACEA: COPEPODA) , 1986 .

[21]  N. Yan,et al.  Crustacean Zooplankton Communities of Acidic, Metal-Contaminated Lakes Near Sudbury, Ontario , 1980 .

[22]  E. Berlow,et al.  The Keystone Species Concept: Variation in Interaction Strength in a Rocky Intertidal Habitat , 1994 .

[23]  Craig E. Williamson,et al.  The attenuation of solar UV radiation in lakes and the role of dissolved organic carbon , 1995 .

[24]  María González,et al.  Comparisons of laboratory bioassays and a whole-lake experiment: Rotifer responses to experimental acidification , 1994 .

[25]  P. Parsons,et al.  Environmental Stresses and Conservation of Natural Populations , 1989 .

[26]  R. Sharitz,et al.  Characteristics of Three Populations of a Swamp Annual Under Different Temperature Regimes , 1980 .

[27]  D. Post,et al.  Lake ecosystems: Rapid evolution revealed by dormant eggs , 1999, Nature.

[28]  David R. Foster,et al.  Disturbance history, community organization and vegetation dynamics of the old-growth pisgah forest, South-Western New Hampshire, U.S.A , 1988 .

[29]  L. Cook,et al.  Genetic consequences of man made change , 1981 .

[30]  E. Mccauley,et al.  The estimation of the abundance and biomass of zooplankton in samples , 1984 .

[31]  P. Grant,et al.  Recurrent patterns of natural selection in a population of Darwin's finches , 1984, Nature.

[32]  J. Lawton,et al.  Linking Species and Ecosystems , 1996 .

[33]  A. J. Tessier.  Life history and body size evolution in Holopedium gibberum Zaddach (Crustacea, Cladocera) , 1986 .

[34]  C. Cronan,et al.  Aluminum Leaching Response to Acid Precipitation: Effects on High-Elevation Watersheds in the Northeast , 1979, Science.

[35]  C. Peterson,et al.  Density-Dependent Mortality Caused by Physical Stress Interacting with Biotic History , 1988, The American Naturalist.

[36]  M. C. Swift,et al.  Inter- and Intra-specific Variability in the Response of Zooplankton to Acid Stress , 1985 .

[37]  G. Wyngaard.  HERITABLE LIFE HISTORY VARIATION IN WIDELY SEPARATED POPULATIONS OF MESOCYCLOPS EDAX (CRUSTACEA: COPEPODA) , 1986 .

[38]  B. Menge,et al.  The Role of Indirect Effects in Food Webs , 1996 .

[39]  S. Carpenter,et al.  Species Compensation and Complementarity in Ecosystem Function , 1995 .

[40]  Robert H. Peters,et al.  Empirical analysis of zooplankton filtering and feeding rates1 , 1984 .

[41]  S. Ellner,et al.  THE ROLES OF FLUCTUATING SELECTION AND LONG‐TERM DIAPAUSE IN MICROEVOLUTION OF DIAPAUSE TIMING IN A FRESHWATER COPEPOD , 1999, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[42]  N. Hairston,et al.  FLUCTUATING SELECTION AND RESPONSE IN A POPULATION OF FRESHWATER COPEPODS , 1990, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[43]  B. Walker.  Conserving Biological Diversity through Ecosystem Resilience , 1995 .

[44]  Derek A. Roff,et al.  The joint evolution of diapause and insecticide resistance: a test of an optimality model. , 1995 .

[45]  G. Polis,et al.  Food webs: integration of patterns and dynamics , 1997 .

[46]  Jessica Gurevitch,et al.  Analysis of Repeated Measures Experiments , 1986 .

[47]  Janis Antonovics,et al.  Experimental Ecological Genetics in Plantago II. Lead Tolerance in Plantago Lanceolata and Cynodon Dactylon from a Roadside , 1976 .

[48]  W. G. Sprules,et al.  Effects of Experimental Acidification on Zooplankton Population and Community Dynamics , 1993 .

[49]  Steven G. Paulsen,et al.  Ultraviolet radiation in North American lakes: Attenuation estimates from DOC measurements and implications for plankton communities , 1996 .

[50]  Thomas W. Schoener,et al.  Nonsynchronous Spatial Overlap of Lizards in Patchy Habitats , 1970 .

[51]  J. Pitblado,et al.  Inferred effects of lake acidification on Daphnia galeata mendotae , 1990 .

[52]  Catherine Potvin,et al.  THE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSE CURVES OBTAINED FROM EXPERIMENTS INVOLVING REPEATED MEASURES , 1990 .

[53]  Anthony R. Ives,et al.  COMPENSATORY DYNAMICS IN PLANKTONIC COMMUNITY RESPONSES TO pH PERTURBATIONS , 2000 .

[54]  T. Frost,et al.  Early zooplankton response to experimental acidification in Little Rock Lake, Wisconsin, USA: With 8 figures and 1 table in the text , 1988 .

[55]  J. Levinton,et al.  Rapid Evolution of Metal Resistance in a Benthic Oligochaete Inhabiting a Metal-polluted Site , 1989 .

[56]  K. Webster,et al.  Comparisons between experimentally- and atmospherically-acidified lakes during stress and recovery , 1990 .

[57]  J. A. Perry,et al.  Experimental acidification of Little Rock Lake, Wisconsin : chemical and biological changes over the pH range 6.1 to 4.7 , 1993 .

[58]  V. J. Jaramillo,et al.  Grazing history, defoliation, and competition: effects on shortgrass production and nitrogen accumulation , 1988 .

[59]  A. Locke.  Zooplankton responses to acidification: A review of laboratory bioassays , 1991 .

[60]  Mark A. McPeek,et al.  Evolutionary Biology and Community Ecology , 1996 .

[61]  Janis Antonovics,et al.  EXPERIMENTAL ECOLOGICAL GENETICS IN PLANTAGO , 1975 .