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Interannual changes in δ15N baseline in a lake–swamp–river food web: effects of summer precipitation in West Siberian forest steppe

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Abstract

Frequency and intensity of precipitation events can alter hydrological conditions of lotic systems and material inflow from the catchment. In this study, interannual changes in food web structure were investigated in a lake–swamp–river system in the semi-arid West Siberian forest-steppe region using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N). The δ15N signatures of aquatic producers and consumers including zooplankton, benthic invertebrates, and fish sharply increased (up to 7.2‰ in range) in 2009 under high summer precipitation. This would reflect the inflow of 15N-rich nutrients accumulated in the catchment through natural and anthropogenic activities, e.g., sewage, livestock farming, evaporation, and/or microbial denitrification. In 2010, benthic producers including epiphytes and macrophytes were more 13C-enriched, which is likely due to limited supply of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) under water stagnation, leading to a large isotopic fractionation during photosynthesis. However, 13C-enrichments in the benthic producers were not reflected to those of aquatic consumers in the habitat. Interannual changes in δ13C of particulate organic matter (POM; a proxy of phytoplankton) were reflected to those of zooplankton, benthic invertebrates, and fish fry, suggesting the trophic importance of autochthonous phytoplankton in the system. These findings suggest that occasional precipitation events in semi-arid forest-steppe regions can modify nutrient flux from the catchment, leading to changes in δ15N baseline in the lotic food web.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Matsuzaki SS, NIES, for allowing use of the mass spectrometer and Dr. Yurlov AK, ISEA SB RAS, for his support throughout the research. Staffs in the Chany Lake field station are acknowledged for their help in field and laboratory works. I would like to acknowledge editors and anonymous reviewers for their critical comments on this manuscript. All experiments and sampling complied with the current laws in the Russian Federation. This study was supported partly by KAKENHI (No. 16405005, 19405008), the International Joint Research Program (2009–2010) from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and the Joint Russian-Japanese initiatory research projects (No. 09-04-92104 and 12-04-92111) and the Federal Fundamental Scientific Research Program for 2013–2020 (No. AAAA-A16-116121410122-4 and AAAA-A16-116121410124-8) from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR).

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Gen Kanaya

  2. Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ISEA SB RAS), 11 Frunze St., Novosibirsk, Russia, 630091

    Natalia I. Yurlova & Elena N. Yadrenkina

  3. Center for Northeast Asian Studies, Tohoku University, Kawauchi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8576, Japan

    Jun-ichi Okano & Shuichi Shikano

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  1. Gen Kanaya
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  2. Natalia I. Yurlova
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  3. Elena N. Yadrenkina
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  4. Jun-ichi Okano
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  5. Shuichi Shikano
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Correspondence to Gen Kanaya.

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Kanaya, G., Yurlova, N.I., Yadrenkina, E.N. et al. Interannual changes in δ15N baseline in a lake–swamp–river food web: effects of summer precipitation in West Siberian forest steppe. Biogeochemistry 150, 217–233 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-020-00694-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-020-00694-3

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