Phytoplankton Diversity Relates Negatively with Productivity in Tropical High-Altitude Lakes from Southern Ecuador

Article Article scientifique Article Phytoplankton Diversity Relates Negatively with Productivity in Tropical High-Altitude Lakes from Southern Ecuador eng 2019 author Cartuche Paqui Victor Alonso 829867 author Guan Ziyu 842594 author Ibelings Bastiaan Willem 781963 author Venail Patrick 805736 5235 10.3390/su11195235 2071-1050 https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/19/5235 Tropical high-altitude lakes are vital freshwater reservoirs in the Andean regions. They are heavily threatened by human activities that may alter their functioning and hamper the provisioning of key ecosystem services such as water supply. Despite their ecological and social relevance, we know little about these waterbodies, especially regarding the factors influencing their functioning. Here, we explored the links between several environmental variables and phytoplankton productivity, measured as chlorophyll-a concentration and total phytoplankton biovolume. For this, we sampled twenty-four tropical high-altitude lakes located over three-thousand meters above sea level in Southern Ecuador. We found that four abiotic factors combined explained 76% of the variation in chlorophyll-a concentration amongst lakes. Contrary to what studies from temperate regions suggest, taxa richness was not related to either chlorophyll-a concentrations or total phytoplankton biovolume. Moreover, phytoplankton biovolume diversity was negatively correlated to both chlorophyll-a concentrations and total phytoplankton biovolume. This was due to a very uneven distribution of productivity amongst taxa in the more productive lakes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to explore the determinants of phytoplankton functioning in tropical high-altitude lakes. We hope that this study will help to establish a baseline for evaluating the consequences of human activities in the ecology and functioning of this vital but fragile ecosystem. Our results suggest that by modifying the abiotic and biotic parameters of tropical high-altitude lakes, human activities can indirectly impact their functioning and their capacity to provide vital ecosystem services. Biodiversity Ecuador Páramo Phytoplankton Productivity Tropical high-altitude lakes Dewey 333.7-333.9 Dewey 550 18 Institut des sciences de l'environnement 0DB 41 Département F.-A. Forel des sciences de l'environnement et de l'eau 153 false 757 Microbial Ecology Sustainability 11 19 8965870e-79f8-4129-9d2d-58048cb5c3a4 Article (Published version) Public sustainability-11-05235.pdf 2168587 application/pdf openAccess Centres et instituts / Institut des sciences de l'environnement Faculté des sciences / Section des sciences de la Terre et de l'Environnement / Département F.-A. Forel des sciences de l'environnement et de l'eau

Title	Published in	Year	Views	Downloads

Phytoplankton diversity and ecosystem functioning in freshwater ecosystems		2020	837	531
Phytoplankton Diversity Relates Negatively with Productivity in Tropical High-Altitude Lakes from Southern Ecuador	Sustainability	2019	286	170

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