The Great Plains of North America are projected to become more arid over the next century. Paleolimnological studies show that lake salinity levels in this region are tightly linked with climate, and that lakes will become more saline as the climate becomes drier. One group of organisms that might be affected by increased salinity levels are the zooplankton. Although recent studies suggest that zooplankton can evolve to tolerate small increases in salinity over short time periods, few studies have examined how they respond when experiencing large increases over longer time frames. For this study, we used resurrection ecology to examine how a common zooplankter, Ceriodaphnia dubia, has responded to long‐term salinity change in Moon Lake, North Dakota over the last 150 yrs. We ran experiments to determine the salinity levels that induced C. dubia eggs to hatch and we ran toxicity experiments to determine the salinity tolerance of adults. These experiments showed that C. dubia eggs hatched in saltier water during periods of drought and in fresher water during wet periods. Similarly, our toxicity experiments showed that EC50 values for C. dubia were higher during episodes of drought. The presence of C. dubia eggs throughout the sediment core during the last 150 yrs combined with their ability to adapt to changing salinity levels, suggests that they will likely be able to persist through coming droughts. Further studies will be needed to determine if other common zooplankton species in Great Plains' lakes are similarly adaptable.

中文翻译：

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北美大平原上的浮游动物能否适应气候变化带来的盐度变化？

预计北美大平原将在下个世纪变得更加干旱。古人类学研究表明，该地区的湖泊盐度水平与气候密切相关，随着气候变干，湖泊的盐分将增加。浮游动物是可能受盐度增加影响的一组生物。尽管最近的研究表明浮游动物可以在短时间内耐受盐度的小幅增加，但很少有研究检查它们在较长时间内经历大幅度增加时的反应。在这项研究中，我们使用了复活生态学来研究常见的浮游动物，Ceriodaphnia dubia在过去的150年中，对北达科他州月亮湖的长期盐度变化做出了反应。我们进行了实验以确定引起杜鹃花卵孵化的盐度水平，并且进行了毒性实验来确定成虫的盐度耐受性。这些实验表明，在干旱时期，杜氏梭菌卵在较咸的水中孵化，而在潮湿时期则在较淡的水中孵化。同样，我们的毒性实验表明，EC50值C.鳖干旱发作时均较高。杜比亚梭菌的存在在过去的150年中，整个沉积物中心的卵具有适应盐度变化的能力，这表明它们很可能能够在即将到来的干旱中持续存在。还需要进一步研究，以确定大平原湖中的其他常见浮游动物是否也具有类似的适应性。