Warming winters in lakes: Later ice onset promotes consumer overwintering and shapes springtime planktonic food webs.

ABSTRACT: Global climate warming is causing the loss of freshwater ice around the Northern Hemisphere. Although the timing and duration of ice covers are known to regulate ecological processes in seasonally ice-covered ecosystems, the consequences of shortening winters for freshwater biota are poorly understood owing to the scarcity of under-ice research. Here, we present one of the first in-lake experiments to postpone ice-cover onset (by ≤21 d), thereby extending light availability (by ≤40 d) in early winter, and explicitly demonstrate cascading effects on pelagic food web processes and phenologies. Delaying ice-on elicited a sequence of events from winter to spring: 1) relatively greater densities of algal resources and primary consumers in early winter; 2) an enhanced prevalence of winter-active

SUBMITTER: Hebert MP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8694056 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature