Global climate change scenarios predict lake water temperatures to increase up to 4°C and extreme weather events, including heat waves and large temperature fluctuations, to occur more frequently. Such changes may result in a reorganization of the plankton community structure, causing shifts in diversity and structure toward a community dominated by fewer species that are more adapted to endure...

Interest in phytoplankton diversity has increased in recent years due to its possible role in regulating climate by production and consumption of greenhouse gases. For example, gases can diffuse across the air-sea interface, many of which are synthesized and emitted by certain phytoplankton species or groups. It has been suggested that these variations play an important role in moderating our c...

The influence of the phytoplankton-specific organic compound glycolate on bacterial community structure was examined during the 2004 spring phytoplankton bloom (February to April) in Dabob Bay in Washington. The diversity of the bacteria able to utilize glycolate during the phytoplankton bloom was determined using previously developed PCR primers to amplify the gene for the D subunit of glycola...

The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is a central issue in ecology. The insurance hypothesis suggests that biodiversity could improve community productivity and reduce the temporal variability of main ecosystem processes. In the present study, we used a plankton community that was investigated from 2011 to 2014 in Lake Nansihu to test this hypothesis and explore the m...

Phytoplankton functional diversity plays a key role in structuring the ocean carbon cycle and can be estimated using measurements of phytoplankton functional type (PFT) groupings. Concentrations of 18 phytoplankton pigments were calculated using a linear matrix inversion algorithm, with an average r2 value of 0.70 for all pigments with p-values below the statistical threshold of 0.05. The inver...

Eukaryotic phytoplankton exhibit an enormous species richness, displaying a range of phylogenetic, morphological and physiological diversity. Yet, until recently, very little was known about the diversity, genetic variation and evolutionary processes within species and populations. An approach to explore this diversity and to understand evolution of phytoplankton is to use population genetics a...

Toxic or allelopathic compounds liberated by toxin-producing phytoplankton (TPP) acts as a strong mediator in plankton dynamics. On an analysis of a set of phytoplankton biomass-data that have been collected by our group in the North-West part of the Bay of Bengal, and by analysis of a three-component mathematical model under a constant as well as a stochastic environment, we explore the role o...

Diatom composition of the rheoplankton (phytoplankton) in the Sajó-Hernád river system (Slovakia and Hungary) was studied. Forty two sample sites were designated on the watershed from source to mouth of the two rivers and their tributaries. Samples were taken in July 2012. Altogether, 258 diatom taxa were identifi ed. The microfl ora was dominated by tychoplanktonic elements. According to the r...

The phytoplankton of the world's oceans play an integral part in global carbon cycling and food webs by conversion of carbon dioxide into organic carbon. They accomplish this task through the action of the Calvin cycle enzyme ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO). Here we have investigated the phylogenetic diversity in the form I rbcL locus in natural phytoplankton communiti...