Dataset for: Cascading effects of freshwater salinization on plankton communities in the Sierra Nevada

Runoff containing road salt (sodium chloride, NaCl) causes the salinization of inland freshwaters, with potentially severe impacts on aquatic species. We performed a mesocosm experiment to test the effects of salinization on plankton community structure in an oligotrophic mountain lake with a limited history of elevated salt concentrations. We exposed plankton communities to a gradient of 30 salt concentrations ranging from 1-2900 Cl– mg L-1 for six weeks. Adding salt increased zooplankton biomass at concentrations <500 mg Cl– L-1 while reducing phytoplankton biomass. Zooplankton biomass declined precipitously at higher concentrations, with phytoplankton biomass showing a mirror image increase. The initial increase in zooplankton biomass with salt addition suggests that zooplankton are salt-limited at low ionic concentrations. Additionally, the inverse response of zooplankton and phytoplankton suggests that salinity mainly affects phytoplankton biomass via changes in top-down regulat...

含有道路融雪盐（氯化钠，NaCl）的径流会导致内陆淡水水体发生盐化作用，对水生生物造成潜在的严重危害。我们开展了一项中宇宙实验（mesocosm experiment），以探究盐化作用对一座盐浓度升高历史有限的贫营养山地湖泊浮游生物群落结构的影响。实验中将浮游生物群落暴露于30个梯度的盐浓度环境中，盐浓度范围为1~2900 mg Cl⁻·L⁻¹，持续六周。当盐浓度低于500 mg Cl⁻·L⁻¹时，添加盐分可提升浮游动物（zooplankton）生物量，同时降低浮游植物（phytoplankton）生物量；当盐浓度进一步升高时，浮游动物生物量会急剧下降，而浮游植物生物量则呈现镜像式的上升趋势。添加盐分初期浮游动物生物量的上升现象表明，浮游动物在低离子浓度环境中受盐分限制。此外，浮游动物与浮游植物的反向响应提示，盐分主要通过下行调控（top-down）的变化来影响浮游植物生物量……