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Size fractionated phytoplankton production in two humic shallow lakes with contrasting coverage of free floating plants

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Abstract

We conducted a 1-year survey in two humic shallow lakes from the floodplain of the Lower Paraná River, Laguna Grande Lake (LGL) and a relictual oxbow lake (ROL). We aimed to test two hypotheses: (1) the efficiency in light use of picoplankton (0.2–3 μm) is greater as light restriction increases and (2) the contribution of picoplankton to the total productivity is higher when the total photosynthetic biomass is lower. We performed P–E curves for picoplankton and nano- and microplankton (>3 μm) using the 14C assimilation technique. The light environments of the water bodies differed mainly owing to the development of free floating plants on the surface of the ROL and the dominance of phytoplankton in LGL. Primary productivity patterns in LGL were seasonality driven whilst in the ROL they were related to the coverage of floating macrophytes, which promoted light limitation and a lower productivity. In LGL, nano- and microplankton were in general more productive and the relative contribution of picoplankton to the total phytoplankton production decreased with the increase in total photosynthetic biomass. Hence, our study extends previously observed patterns to subtropical shallow lakes, where seasonality and free floating plants may influence the dynamics of phytoplankton production.

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Acknowledgments

We thank our colleagues at the laboratory of Limnology (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina) for the field assistance and the personnel of the Natural Reserve Otamendi (Administración de Parques Nacionales, Buenos Aires, Argentina) for their technical support. Also, to two anonymous reviewers and Dr. Luigi Naselli-Flores (Associate Editor), whose comments helped to improve the manuscript. This work was supported by Universidad de Buenos Aires (Grant UBACyT-X815), ANPCyT (Grant PICT 536 and 12332) and CONICET (Grant PIP 64).

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  1. Laboratorio de Limnología, Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Piso 4, Pabellón 2, Ciudad Universitaria, C1428EHA, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Patricia Rodríguez, Haydée Pizarro & M. Solange Vera

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  1. Patricia Rodríguez
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  2. Haydée Pizarro
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  3. M. Solange Vera
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Correspondence to Patricia Rodríguez.

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Handling editor: Luigi Naselli-Flores

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Rodríguez, P., Pizarro, H. & Vera, M.S. Size fractionated phytoplankton production in two humic shallow lakes with contrasting coverage of free floating plants. Hydrobiologia 691, 285–298 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-012-1081-5

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