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Unraveling the sources and fluorescence compositions of dissolved and particulate organic matter (DOM and POM) in Lake Taihu, China

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Abstract

Organic matter (OM), a complex entity with diverse functional groups and molecular sizes, has important effects on aquatic systems. We studied the optical compositions and sources of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and particulate organic matter (POM) in Lake Taihu, a large, shallow and eutrophic lake in China. Significant differences in optical compositions and sources occurred between the POM and DOM. The temporal–spatial distribution of the fluorescence indices suggested that the POM in Lake Taihu was mainly from autochthonous sources, but more exogenous characteristics were shown in POM in the river mouths compared with other regions. The chromophoric DOM in Lake Taihu mainly displayed autochthonous characteristics. The POM–DOM PARAFAC model was used to examine OM optical composition and five components were identified, which contained three protein-like components (C1, C2, and C5), a microbial humic-like component (C3), and a terrestrial humic-like component (C4). The POM was dominated by C5 in summer and autumn and C3 in winter and spring, and the DOM was dominated by protein-like components (C1, C2, and C5) through the entire year. The algae-dominated region had a relative higher contribution of tryptophan-like components of POM compared with the macrophyte-dominated region. A conceptual model based on the theory of “four phases of cyanobacteria bloom development” was proposed to fully describe the relationship between POM–DOM exchanges and cyanobacteria bloom development.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the staff of the Taihu Laboratory for Lake Ecosystem Research for helping with sample collection. We especially thank Dr. Sarah Poynton of Johns Hopkins University for her useful comments and linguistic improvements.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41501101, 41301544), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (No. BK20151059), the Major Science and Technology Program for Water Pollution Control and Treatment (No. 2017ZX07203-004), and the State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment (No. 2018SKL004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment and Planning, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng, 252000, Shandong Province, China

    Lü Weiwei, Yao Xin & Zhang Baohua

  2. Taihu Laboratory for Lake Ecosystem Research, State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Lü Weiwei, Yao Xin, Shao Keqiang & Gao Guang

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  1. Lü Weiwei
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  2. Yao Xin
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Correspondence to Yao Xin.

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Weiwei, L., Xin, Y., Keqiang, S. et al. Unraveling the sources and fluorescence compositions of dissolved and particulate organic matter (DOM and POM) in Lake Taihu, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 4027–4040 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-3873-2

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