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Experimental assessment of a possible microbial priming effect in a humic boreal lake

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Abstract

Global change models normally do not include interaction effects between different pools of recalcitrant humic organic carbon which can alter carbon cycling via their influence on biological activities. This issue is especially important in northern regions where lakes receive high inputs of allochthonous dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from the extensive surrounding peatlands. We investigated the threshold of added labile DOC necessary to promote a priming effect (PE); i.e. stimulation of bacterial metabolism with a subsequent increase in the mineralization of recalcitrant DOC and the accompanying changes in microbial community structure and function. Our study was carried out in a small highly humic lake (Mekkojärvi, southern Finland), physically divided by a plastic curtain into two experimental basins, one where fish were present (+FISH) and one that was fishless (−FISH). In each basin, we performed a factorial mesocosm experiment in which different amounts of labile DOC were supplied as cane sugar (control +6, +9, +12 mg C L−1). Our results showed no priming effect in any carbon treatment, either in +FISH or in −FISH basins, despite a decreasing trend in total DOC concentration. Bacterial abundance and production did not increase as a response to carbon additions, while mixotrophic algae increased their abundance over time. In our experiments, the organisms that benefitted most after addition of labile DOC were mixotrophic algae, which can transform carbon into biomass by obtaining inorganic nutrients through phagotrophy. This appears most likely due to strong bacterial N limitation and dependence on resource availability and stoichiometry.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Lammi Biological Station, University of Helsinki for the facilities available and all personnel assisting with the experiment. We specially thank Jussi Vesterinen for his invaluable help during the sampling period. We thank Dr. Michael Wilkins and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive criticism and suggestions. The study was supported by Academy of Finland Project 137671 awarded to RIJ and by Junta de Andalucía Project P09-RNM-5376 to JMMS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto del Agua, Universidad de Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain

    Irene Dorado-García

  2. Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Jari Syväranta, Shawn P. Devlin & Roger I. Jones

  3. Flathead Lake Biological Station, University of Montana, Polson, USA

    Shawn P. Devlin

  4. Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain

    Juan Manuel Medina-Sánchez

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  1. Irene Dorado-García
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Correspondence to Irene Dorado-García.

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Dorado-García, I., Syväranta, J., Devlin, S.P. et al. Experimental assessment of a possible microbial priming effect in a humic boreal lake. Aquat Sci 78, 191–202 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-015-0425-4

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