Can Simple Empirical Equations Describe the Seasonal Dynamics of Bacterioplankton in Lakes: An Eight-Year Study in Shallow Hypertrophic and Biologically Highly Dynamic Lake Søbygård, Denmark

Abstract

Seasonal variation in bacterioplankton abundance, biomass, and bacterioplankton production was studied over eight years in hypertrophic Lake Søbygård. Biologically, the lake is highly variable; this is due mainly to large interannual variation in fish recruitment. Bacterioplankton production was low during winter, typically 1–3 × 10⁷ cells l⁻¹ h⁻¹, and high during summer, albeit greatly fluctuating with maximum rates typically ranging from 60 to 90 × 10⁷ cells l⁻¹ h⁻¹ (or 0.4 to 0.6 mg C l⁻¹ day⁻¹). Less pronounced variations were found in bacterioplankton abundance, which typically ranged from 3–8 × 10⁹ cells l⁻¹ in winter to 15–30 × 10⁹ cells l⁻¹ during summer. The specific growth rate of bacterioplankton varied from 0.02–0.2 d⁻¹ in winter to 0.5–2.3 day⁻¹ during summer. Interpolated mean bacterioplankton production, in terms of carbon, ranged from 0.08 to 0.16 mg C l⁻¹ day⁻¹, corresponding to 1.6–5.5% of the phytoplankton production, while biomass ranged from 0.28 to 0.36 mg C l⁻¹, corresponding to 1.9–4.6% of the phytoplankton biomass. We conducted regression analysis, relating the bacterioplankton variables to a number of environmental variables, and evaluated the interannual parameter variability. Chlorophyll a and phytoplankton production contributed less to the variation in the bacterioplankton variables than in most previous analyses using data from less eutrophic systems. We suggest that the proportion of phytoplankton production that is channelized through bacterioplankton in lakes decreases with increasing trophic state and decreasing mean depth. This probably reflects a concurrent increase in fish predation on macrozooplankton and loss by sedimentation. An important part of the residual variation in the equations hitherto proposed in the literature could be explained by variation in macrozooplankton biomass and pH > 10.2. A negative effect of high pH on bacterioplankton production was confirmed by laboratory experiments. The impact of different zooplankton varies considerably, with Daphnia seeming to have a negative impact on bacterioplankton abundance and, thereby, indirectly on bacterioplankton production, while Bosmina, rotifers, and cyclopoid copepods seem to stimulate both abundance and production. Bosmina apparently also stimulate the bacterioplankton specific growth rate.