Influence of climate changes on the structure of summer phytoplankton in a forest zone lake (Raifskoye, Volga-Kama Nature reserve)
O. V. PALAGUSHKINA1, E. N. UNKOVSKAYA2, L. B. NAZAROVA1
1Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Russia
2Volzhsko-Kama State Natural Biosphere Reserve, Sadovy, Russia
Keywords: biomass, climate change, monitoring, Raifskoe Lake, phytoplankton
Abstract
Climate change, which causes significant structural transformations of ecosystems, is becoming one of the most acute environmental problems of our time. Monitoring observations in protected areas, where anthropogenic impacts are minimal, highlight the impact of climate on natural communities. We studied the changes in the structure of summer phytoplankton in Lake Raifskoe (Volga-Kama Reserve) and the relationships between these changes and environmental factors for more than twenty years. The study showed an increase in the proportion of dinophyte algae in the total biomass of summer phytoplankton in the studied lake situated in the forest zone. This structural change is more typical of the structure of lake communities in the forest-steppe zone. The climate, and particularly the air temperature of the warmest month (July), plays a leading role in the change in the structure of phytoplankton. The influence of climate humidity (precipitation) on the phytoplankton community was not revealed. Our data show that current climate changes lead to the rearrangement of phytoplankton communities, in which the structure of the biomass of the summer phytoplankton of the studied lake from the forest zone of the Middle Volga region can acquire features of the structure of lake communities from the forest-steppe zone.
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