Department Aquatic Ecology

Reconstructions of past changes in algal community composition provide important context for future alterations in biogeochemical cycling. However, many existing phytoplankton proxies are indicative of individual algal groups and are not fully representative of the whole community. Here, we evaluated hydrogen isotope ratios of algal lipids (δ²H_Lipid) as a potential proxy for phytoplankton community composition. We sampled the water column of Rotsee, a small eutrophic lake in Switzerland, every second week from January 2019 to February 2020 and analyzed distributions and the relative offsets between δ²H_Lipid values (δ²H_{Lipid1/Lipid2}) from short-chain fatty acids, phytosterols and phytol. Comparing these data with phytoplankton cell counts, we found that δ²H_{C16:0 Acid/Sterol} and δ²H_{Sterol/Phytol} values reflect shifts within the eukaryotic algal community. To assess whether the selected phytoplankton groups were the main sources of the selected lipids, we further modeled algal δ²H_{Lipid1/Lipid2} values based on δ²H_{C16:0 Acid}, δ²H_Sterol and δ²H_Phytol values from batch cultures of individual algal groups and their biovolume in Rotsee and evaluated the role of heterotrophy on δ²H_{Lipid1/Lipid2} values using a model incorporating δ²H_{C16:0 Acid} and δ²H_Sterol values from microzooplankton. Annually-integrated and amount-weighted δ²H_{Lipid1/Lipid2} values measured in Rotsee were within 2 to 20 ‰ of the mean of modeled algal δ²H_{Lipid1/Lipid2} values, demonstrating a strong link with the phytoplankton community composition, while δ²H_{Lipid1/Lipid2} values including microzooplankton lipids had a larger offset. Additionally, cyanobacterial biovolume was positively correlated with the ratio of phytol and phytosterols (phytol:sterol ratio) as well as the ratio of unsaturated C18 and C16:0 fatty acids (C18:C16 ratio). Our results support the application of sedimentary δ²H_{Lipid1/Lipid2} values in eutrophic lakes as a proxy for past phytoplankton community assemblages. Moreover, the calculation of sedimentary phytol:sterol and C18:C16 ratios provides an additional proxy for reconstructing cyanobacterial blooms.

As the urgency to evaluate the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems increases, there is a need to develop robust projections and improve the uptake of ecosystem model outputs in policy and planning. Standardizing input and output data is a crucial step in evaluating and communicating results, but can be challenging when using models with diverse structures, assumptions, and outputs that address region-specific issues. We developed an implementation framework and workflow to standardize the climate and fishing forcings used by regional models contributing to the Fisheries and Marine Ecosystem Model Intercomparison Project (FishMIP) and to facilitate comparative analyses across models and a wide range of regions, in line with the FishMIP 3a protocol. We applied our workflow to three case study areas-models: the Baltic Sea Mizer, Hawai'i-based Longline fisheries therMizer, and the southern Benguela ecosystem Atlantis marine ecosystem models. We then selected the most challenging steps of the workflow and illustrated their implementation in different model types and regions. Our workflow is adaptable across a wide range of regional models, from non-spatially explicit to spatially explicit and fully-depth resolved models and models that include one or several fishing fleets. This workflow will facilitate the development of regional marine ecosystem model ensembles and enhance future research on marine ecosystem model development and applications, model evaluation and benchmarking, and global-to-regional model comparisons.

The interplay between abiotic (resource supply, temperature) and biotic (grazing) factors determines growth and loss processes in phytoplankton through resource competition and trophic interactions, which are mediated by morphological traits like size. Here, we study the relative importance of grazers, water physics, and chemistry on the daily net accumulation rates (ARs) of individual phytoplankton from natural communities, grouped into six size classes from circa 10 to 500 μm. Using a Random Forest modelling approach and 4 years of daily data from a lake, we find that water temperature is generally a pivotal control of all phytoplankton ARs. At the same time, nutrients and light are important for the smallest and the largest classes. Mesozooplankton abundance is a key predictor of the AR for small phytoplankton, with microzooplankton being important for the middle-size range. In our data, large and small phytoplankton have different (seasonal) blooming patterns: small forms are favoured by low temperature and grazing, and high phosphorus levels. Larger forms show positive ARs at high temperatures and low phosphorus (being relatively insensitive to zooplankton grazing). These results help us understand the opportunities and limitations of using size to explain and model phytoplankton responses to biotic and abiotic environmental change.