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Vertical distributions of bound saturated fatty acids and compound-specific stable carbon isotope compositions in sediments of two lakes in China: implication for the influence of eutrophication

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Abstract

Lakes Dianchi (DC) and Bosten (BST) were determined to be at different stages of eutrophication, by use of total organic carbon content, bulk carbon isotopic composition, bulk nitrogen isotopic composition, and bound saturated fatty acid (BSFA) concentrations in sediment cores. A rapid increase in the supply of organic matter (OM) to DC began after the 1950s, while the environment and trophic status of BST remained constant as indicated by characteristics of OM input to sediments. The BSFA ratios of nC14 + nC16 + nC18/nC24 + nC26 + nC28 increase upward from 7 to 13 in the DC core, which are significantly greater than those from BST (2 to 3). This result is consistent with algae or bacteria being the dominant contribution of the OM increase induced by eutrophication in DC. The positive shift of nC16 compound-specific δ 13C in the upper section might be an indicator of excess algal productivity, which was observed in the two lakes. The positive shifts of compound-specific δ 13C of other BSFAs were also observed in the upper section of the core only from DC. The observed trends of compound-specific δ13C of BSFA originated from different sources became more consistent, which reflected the intensified eutrophication had profoundly affected production and preservation of OM in DC. The results observed for BST indicated that accumulation of algae did not affect the entire aquatic ecosystem until now.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41103082) and the Ministry of Science and Technology 973 early special (2012CB426506). Prof. Giesy was supported by the program of 2012 “High Level Foreign Experts” (no. GDW20123200120) funded by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, the People’s Republic of China to Nanjing University and the Einstein Professor Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was also supported by the Canada Research Chair program and a Visiting Distinguished Professorship in the Department of Biology and Chemistry and State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 550002, Guiyang, China

    Lifang Wang & Tian Lin

  2. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, 100012, Beijing, China

    Lifang Wang & Fengchang Wu

  3. State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 510640, Guangzhou, China

    Yongqiang Xiong

  4. Key Laboratory for Information System of Mountainous Area and Protection of Ecological Environment of Guizhou Province, Guizhou Normal University, 550001, Guiyang, China

    Qiuhua Li

  5. Department of Biomedical Veterinary Biosciences and Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

    John P. Giesy

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  1. Lifang Wang
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  2. Yongqiang Xiong
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  3. Fengchang Wu
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  4. Qiuhua Li
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  5. Tian Lin
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Correspondence to Fengchang Wu.

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Responsible editor: Hongwen Sun

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Wang, L., Xiong, Y., Wu, F. et al. Vertical distributions of bound saturated fatty acids and compound-specific stable carbon isotope compositions in sediments of two lakes in China: implication for the influence of eutrophication. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 13138–13147 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3219-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3219-7

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