TRAIT RESPONSES OF BRACKISH WATER MACROPHYTE TO CLIMATE WARMING THROUGH TWO SYNCHRONIZED MESOCOSM EXPERIMENTS IN DIFFERENT CLIMATE REGIONS

Submerged macrophytes play a crucial role as primary producers, contributing essential ecosystem functions and services. Our study aimed to assess the effects of projected climate warming (4.5 °C) on the traits of a submerged aquatic macrophyte (Stuckenia pectinata) under brackish lake conditions (4 ppt) in two distinct climatic regions of Turkey: a cold semi-arid climate in Ankara and a hot, dry Mediterranean climate in Mersin, employing a mesocosm experiment. The mesocosms were inoculated with natural communities at trophic levels from plankton to fish and Stuckenia pectinata was used as a model species due to its widespread distribution in brackish lakes in the region. Plant morphological and physiological traits, including plant height, canopy height, number of leaves per shoot, percentage of leaves undergoing senescence, biomass ratio (dry weight/wet weight, DW:WW), epiphytic algal biomass, leaves’ chlorophyll-a and b, and leaves/shoot C and N content, were considered during the study. Results indicated significant variations in plant canopy height, biomass ratio, number of leaves, and epiphytic algal biomass between two climate regions. Overall, our data indicated that this species exhibited resilience to the anticipated 4.5 °C warming. The noticeable variations in biomass dry matter content (indicated with wet mass and DW:WW) between two climate regions may carry significant implications for ecosystem functioning such as animal grazing and/or decompositions.

Primary Presenter: Md Masum Billah, Middle East Technical University (METU), Turkey (masum_imsf07@yahoo.com)

Authors:

Md Masum Billah, Middle East Technical University, Turkey  (masum_imsf07@yahoo.com)

Gültekin Yılmaz, Middle East Technical University, Turkey  (tekin.ims@gmail.com)

Cihelio Alves Amorim, Middle East Technical University, Turkey  (alvescihelio@gmail.com)

Meltem Koru, Middle East Technical University, Turkey  (korumeltem99@gmail.com)

Onat Arıkan, Middle East Technical University, Turkey  (nakiratano@gmail.com)

Mustafa Korkmaz, Middle East Technical University, Turkey  (korkmaz.hidro@gmail.com)

İrem Gamze Arık, Middle East Technical University, Turkey  (igamzearik@gmail.com)

Archana Manjunath, Middle East Technical University, Turkey  (archanamanjunath007@gmail.com)

Meryem Beklioğlu, Middle East Technical University, Turkey  (meryem@metu.edu.tr)

Erik Jeppesen, Aarhus University, Denmark  (ej@ecos.au.dk)

Korhan Özkan, Middle East Technical University, Turkey  (okorhan@metu.edu.tr)