Winter bloom of picoeukaryotes in Hungarian shallow turbid soda pans and the role of light and temperature

Abstract

The seasonal dynamics of picophytoplankton communities in shallow turbid alkaline pans in Hungary was studied between July 2006 and May 2007. Similarly to other aquatic environments in the temperate zone, dominance of picocyanobacteria was observed in summer and that of picoeukaryotes in winter. The mild winter in 2006–2007, with midday water temperatures of 5–10°C, resulted in large winter phytoplankton blooms (maximum chlorophyll a concentration 800 μg l−1) in the shallow pans. The phytoplankton was composed of single-celled picoeukaryotes and had a maximum of 108 × 106 cells ml−1 in Budos-szek pan, 50 × 106 cells ml−1 in Kelemen-szek pan in April 2007, and 47 × 106 cells ml−1 in Zab-szek pan in March 2007. In order to explain the winter dominance of picoeukaryotes, we isolated picoeukaryotic and picocyanobacterial strains and determined the temperature and light dependence of their photosynthesis. Under temperatures <15°C, the photosynthetic activity of the picoeukaryotic strain was higher and their light utilization was better than those of the picocyanobacterial strain. The results indicate that low temperature and light intensity in winter provide a competitive advantage to picoeukaryotes, while higher temperatures and light intensity are more favorable for picocyanobacteria.