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Seasonal and site-specific variability in terrigenous particulate organic carbon concentration in near-shore waters of Lake Biwa, Japan

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Abstract

Identifying sources of particulate organic matter (POM) is important for clarifying fundamental mechanisms by which lake food webs are sustained. We determined carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios of POM in near-shore waters of Lake Biwa, a large, meso-eutrophic lake in Japan, to estimate relative contributions of terrigenous particulate organic carbon (T-POC), plankton-derived POC (P-POC) and epilithon-derived POC (E-POC) to POC in near-shore waters. Samples were collected during different months (November, February, May and July) at 29 sites located near the mouth of tributary rivers with different discharge and catchment land use. The data revealed that POC mainly consisted of P-POC and T-POC, with relative contributions varying widely over season and among locations. E-POC generally contributed little to the near-shore POC. Path analyses revealed that the concentration of riverine POC whose isotopic signatures were similar to those of rice straws increased with a larger %paddy field area in the catchment of tributary rivers, which subsequently enhanced T-POC inputs to near-shore waters through riverine transportation. Furthermore, our results suggested that T-POC contribution was influenced, with a time lag, by wave-driven turbulence and shore topography, which appear to affect sedimentation and resuspension of T-POC.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Dr. T. Koitabashi and Dr. Y. Goda for field assistance. We also thank Dr. E. Nakajima for useful comments on the manuscript. Dr. T. Ohtsuka provided technical advice on statistics. This study was supported by the JSPS Grant-in Aid (nos. 23657019 and 24370010), the CREST project, JST, and The Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (D-1102 and S-9) of the Ministry of the Environment, Japan. This study was partly supported by Research Project 3-1 of The Research Institute for Humanity and Nature. YS, ZK, and NO were also supported by the Global COE Program A06 "Formation of a strategic base for biodiversity and evolutionary research: from genome to ecosystem" from the MEXT, Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, 509-3, 2-chome, Hirano, Otsu, Shiga, 520-2113, Japan

    Yoichiro Sakai, Chikage Yoshimizu, Ichiro Tayasu & Noboru Okuda

  2. National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8506, Japan

    Zin’ichi Karube & Ayato Kohzu

  3. Department of Biology and Geosciences, Osaka City University, 3-3-138 Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi, Osaka, 558-8585, Japan

    Tomohiro Takeyama

  4. Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8564, Japan

    Toshi Nagata

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  1. Yoichiro Sakai
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  2. Zin’ichi Karube
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Correspondence to Yoichiro Sakai.

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Sakai, Y., Karube, Z., Takeyama, T. et al. Seasonal and site-specific variability in terrigenous particulate organic carbon concentration in near-shore waters of Lake Biwa, Japan. Limnology 14, 167–177 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10201-012-0394-4

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