Cell size-dependent species sensitivity to nanoparticles underlies changes in phytoplankton diversity and productivity

Zuo, Yiping 1 ; Southard, Michael1; Xu, Qianna2; Zhang, Guangxing1; Skibinski, Emily1; Moon, Nicole3; Gan, Lan1; Chen, Yongsheng1; Jiang, Lin 1

Published Nov 16, 2023 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.02v6wwq92

Data files

Nov 16, 2023 version files 238.97 KB

bi-species_culture.csv

131.14 KB
invasion.csv

72.33 KB
monoculture.csv

27.82 KB
phytoplankton_volume.csv

2.99 KB
README.md

4.68 KB

Abstract

Nanoparticle pollution has been shown to affect various organisms. However, the effects of nanoparticles on species interactions, and the role of species traits, such as body size, in modulating these effects, are not well understood. We addressed this issue using competing freshwater phytoplankton species exposed to copper oxide nanoparticles. Increasing nanoparticle concentration resulted in decreased phytoplankton species growth rates and community productivity (both abundance and biomass). Importantly, we consistently found that nanoparticles had greater negative effects on species with smaller cell sizes, such that nanoparticle pollution weakened the competitive dominance of smaller species and promoted species diversity. Moreover, nanoparticles reduced the growth rate differences and competitive ability differences of competing species, while having little effect on species niche differences. Consequently, nanoparticle pollution reduced the selection effect on phytoplankton community abundance but increased the selection effect on community biomass. Our results suggest cell size as a key functional trait to consider when predicting phytoplankton community structure and ecosystem functioning in the face of increasing nanopollution.

https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.02v6wwq92

Description of the data and file structure

File list:
A) phytoplankton volume.csv
B) monoculture.csv
C) bi-species culture.csv
D) invasion.csv
Data-specific information for: phytoplankton volume.csv
Number of variables: 3
Number of rows: 150
**Variable List: **
replicate: number of individuals being measured
species: the abbreviations of the species in this study
volume: the cell volume of single individual, which unit is μm^3 per cell
Data-specific information for: monoculture.csv
Number of variables: 6
Number of rows: 898
**Variable List: **
species: the abbreviations of the species in this study
day: the time after the start of monocultural incubation
NPs: nanoparticle concentration, which unit is mg per L
rep: replicate number
cell_per_ml: the density of monocultures, which unit is the number of individuals (or cells) per ml
biomass_per_ml: the biomass of monocultures, which unit is pg carbon per mL
Data-specific information for: bi-species culture.csv
Number of variables: 16
Number of rows: 1800
**Variable List: **
day: the time after the start of bi-species culture
combination: the species component of bi-species cultures
NPs: nanoparticle concentration, which unit is mg per L
replicate: replicate number
ANK_cell_ml: the density of species ANK in the bi-species culture (if contain), which unit is number of individuals (or cells) per ml
CHLA_cell_ml: the density of species CHLA in the bi-species culture (if contain), which unit is number of individuals (or cells) per ml
SCE_cell_ml: the density of species SCE in the bi-species culture (if contain), which unit is number of individuals (or cells) per ml
SEL_cell_ml: the density of species SEL in the bi-species culture (if contain), which unit is number of individuals (or cells) per ml
STA_cell_ml: the density of species STA in the bi-species culture (if contain), which unit is number of individuals (or cells) per ml
ANK_biomass_ml: the biomass of species ANK in the bi-species culture (if contain), which unit is pg carbon per mL
CHLA_biomass_ml: the biomass of species CHLA in the bi-species culture (if contain), which unit is pg carbon per mL
SCE_biomass_ml: the biomass of species SCE in the bi-species culture (if contain), which unit is pg carbon per mL
SEL_biomass_ml: the biomass of species SEL in the bi-species culture (if contain), which unit is pg carbon per mL
STA_biomass_ml: the biomass of species STA in the bi-species culture (if contain), which unit is pg carbon per mL
cell_ml: the density of the bi-species community (i.e., the sum of the densities of the two component species), which unit is number of individuals (or cells) per ml
biomass_ml: the biomass of the bi-species community (i.e., the sum of the biomasses of the two component species), which unit is pg carbon per mL
Data-specific information for: invasion.csv
Number of variables: 10
Number of rows: 1196
**Variable List: **
combination: the species component of bi-species cultures
day: the time after adding the invasive species to the stabilized residential species
NPs: nanoparticle concentration, which unit is mg per L
replicate: replicate number
residential_cell_ml: the density of residential species, which unit is number of individuals (or cells) per ml
residential_biomass_ml: the biomass of residential species, which unit is pg carbon per mL
invader_cell_ml: the density of invasive species, which unit is number of individuals (or cells) per ml
invader_biomass_ml: the biomass of invasive species, which unit is pg carbon per mL
residential_sp: the abbreviated name of residential species
invasive_sp: the abbreviated name of invasive species

Sharing/Access information

This is a section for linking to other ways to access the data, and for linking to sources the data is derived from, if any.

Links to other publicly accessible locations of the data:

http://...

Data was derived from the following sources:

Code/Software

This is an optional, freeform section for describing any code in your submission and the software used to run it.

Describe any scripts, code, or notebooks (e.g., R, Python, Mathematica, MatLab) as well as the software versions (including loaded packages) that you used to run those files. If your repository contains more than one file whose relationship to other scripts is not obvious, provide information about the workflow that you used to run those scripts and notebooks.