A Non-Stressful Temperature Rise and Greater Food Availability Could Increase Tolerance to Calcium Limitation of Daphnia cf. pulex (Sensu Hebert, 1995) Populations in Cold Soft-Water Lakes Ramos Rodríguez, Eloisa Pérez Martínez, María del Carmen Conde Porcuna, José María Calcium limitation Cladocera Daphnia pulex Food quantity Warming Calcium (Ca) is an important driver of community structure in freshwaters. We examined the combined effects of increased temperatures and variations in food quantity on the tolerance to low Ca of Daphnia pulex. The aim was to predict the impact of climate warming on this keystone zooplanktonic species in cold-climate lakes. We conducted a factorial life-history experiment in a clone of North American Daphnia cf. pulex to analyse the interaction effects of a temperature increase (17.5 degrees C-21 degrees C) within their physiological preferred range and expected by climate warming over the next few decades and a narrow Ca gradient (0.25-1.74 mg Ca L-1) under stressful vs. abundant food conditions. We found a striking positive synergistic effect of Ca and temperature on D. pulex reproduction at high food conditions. Although the increase in temperature to 21 degrees C greatly reduced survival, high energy allocation to reproduction at high food levels allowed the population to succeed in poor Ca (<0.25 mg Ca L-1). Results suggest that climate warming and higher food availability will make the populations of many cold and Ca-limited lakes more tolerant to low Ca levels with higher growth population rates, thereby altering zooplanktonic community structures and inducing potential cascading effects on the food web. 2022-11-09T11:29:46Z 2022-11-09T11:29:46Z 2022-10-20 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Ramos-Rodríguez, E.; Pérez-Martínez, C.; Conde-Porcuna, J.M. A Non-Stressful Temperature Rise and Greater Food Availability Could Increase Tolerance to Calcium Limitation of Daphnia cf. pulex (sensu Hebert, 1995) Populations in Cold Soft-Water Lakes. Biology 2022, 11, 1539. [https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11101539] https://hdl.handle.net/10481/77847 10.3390/biology11101539 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 4.0 Internacional MDPI