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Seasonal Changes in Metabolic Rates of Two Tropical Lakes in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil

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Abstract

We studied the importance of environmental drivers for the seasonal dynamics of gross primary production (GPP), ecosystem respiration (R), and net ecosystem production in surface waters of two tropical lakes in southeast Brazil (Carioca—CA; and Dom Helvécio—DH), 2011 and 2012, using high frequency measurements of dissolved oxygen. Metabolic rates were approximately twice as high during the fully mixed winter periods, compared to the summer periods. For both lakes, GPP was approximately 30% lower during the warmer and dryer spring of 2012 compared to 2011. Seasonal changes in GPP and R were negatively correlated to water column stability (GPP r = −0.82, p < 0.001; R r = −0.80, p < 0.001). Periods with high stability coincided with warm waters which reduced mixing and internal inputs of nutrients from hypolimnetic waters. GPP was accordingly suppressed in both lakes during summer due to a combination of nutrient depletion and photo-inhibition, which was more pronounced during summer. These conditions were more prevailing during the warm and dry year of 2012, indicating ecosystem responses in carbon cycling to the ongoing regional climate changes.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON) for providing the opportunity to start the collaborations that made this work possible. We are also grateful for the logistic support by the staff of the Parque Estadual do Rio Doce and for the meteorological data provided by Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais. This study was funded by Pesquisas Ecológicas de Longa Duração/CNPq (nº 403698/2012-0) in addition to support from Fapemig (nº CRA-APQ-02623-10) and from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES, nº 88881.030499/2013-01). L.S.B. was supported by CAPES. P.A.S. was supported by the Danish Council for Independent Research Natural Sciences grant no 10-085238. We also thank Marcelo Costa for support in laboratory analysis and John Melack for valuable comments in a previous version of this manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ludmila Silva Brighenti.

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Brighenti contributed to the study design, performed the research, analyzed the data, contributed models used in the analysis, and wrote the manuscript. Staehr contributed to the data analysis, models used in the analysis and to writing the manuscript. Gagliardi contributed to performing the research, to the data analysis and to writing the manuscript. Brandão contributed performing the research, to the data analysis and edited the manuscript. Elias and Mello contributed to performing the research and to Figure 1. Barbosa and Bezerra-Neto conceived the study, contributed to the methods, and edited the manuscript

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Brighenti, L.S., Staehr, P.A., Gagliardi, L.M. et al. Seasonal Changes in Metabolic Rates of Two Tropical Lakes in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. Ecosystems 18, 589–604 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-015-9851-3

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