Cold and wet: Diatoms dominate the phytoplankton community during a year of anomalous weather in a Great Lakes estuary

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jglr.2021.07.003
• Publication Date: 2021-07-22T06:42:06Z
• Authors: Jasmine L. Mancuso; Anthony D. Weinke; Ian P. Stone; Sarah E. Hamsher; Manuel Villar-Argaiz; Bopaiah A. Biddanda
• Keywords: Bloom

As sentinels of climate change and other anthropogenic forces, freshwater lakes are experiencing ecosystem disruptions at every level the food web, beginning with phytoplankton, a highly responsive group organisms. Most studies regarding effects on phytoplankton focus potential scenario in which temperatures continuously increase droughts intersperse heavy precipitation events. Like much conterminous United States 2019, Muskegon River watershed (Michigan, USA) experienced record-breaking rainfall accompanied by unusually cool temperatures, affording an opportunity to explore how alternate may affect phytoplankton. We conducted biweekly sampling environmental variables Lake, Great Lakes Area Concern that connects Lake Michigan. compared 2019 previous eight years using long-term data from Observatory buoy, annual monitoring excursions provided historical data. Under cold wet conditions, diatoms were single dominant division throughout entire growth season – unprecedented Lake. In 10 13 days comprised over 75% community lake count, indicating spring diatom bloom persisted through fall. Additionally, seasonal succession abundance patterns typically seen this absent. world reduced predictability, increased variability, regional anomalies, studying periods extreme weather events offer insight into natural systems will be affected respond under future scenarios.