Experimental evidence of the dynamic effect of free‐floating plants on phytoplankton ecology

Summary 1. There is an increasing concern to understand the role of free‐floating plants (FFP) on the functioning and structure of shallow lakes, particularly the mechanisms by which their dominance is self‐stabilizing and how they may outcompete phytoplankton. 2. In a field experiment with mesocosms, we simulated three commonly encountered scenarios in warm temperate shallow lakes: FFP dominance, FFP fluctuation and FFP absence. We explored the...