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Spatial–seasonal characteristics and influencing factors of dissolved organic carbon and chromophoric dissolved organic matter in Poyang Lake

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Abstract

As the largest organic carbon pool in water, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) plays a key role in the carbon cycle. In inland rivers and lakes, DOC is closely related to chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) with optical attenuation. In this study, the spatial distribution and seasonal variations of DOC and CDOM in Poyang Lake in 2014–2016 were investigated. The results demonstrated that the DOC concentration in Poyang Lake had a range of 1.34–5.56 mg/L with an average of 2.12 ± 0.54 mg/L. The absorption coefficient of CDOM at 355 nm had a range of 1.24–5.70 m−1 with an average of 2.71 ± 0.83 m−1. In terms of the spatial distribution, the concentrations of DOC and CDOM in the south of Poyang Lake were higher than those in the north of the lake. In terms of seasonal variations, the concentrations of DOC and CDOM were higher in spring and summer than in autumn and winter. The absorption coefficients of CDOM and DOC concentrations in Poyang Lake exhibited a significant linear correlation. The correlation between DOC and CDOM in some sections of Poyang Lake varied spatially and seasonally. The highest correlation was observed in wetland waters of the southern Poyang Lake in spring, while there was no significant correlation in northern section of the lake in most of the periods. The results revealed that water level, precipitation and the vegetation cover pattern had determining effects on the spatial heterogeneity of DOC and CDOM. The spectral characteristic parameters demonstrated that the main source of the CDOM in Poyang Lake was from terrestrial input.

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Data availability

The data included in this study are available on request from the corresponding author with the following link https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-022-10736-8.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate the insightful and constructive comments and suggestions from the anonymous reviewers and the Editor that helped improve the quality of the manuscript.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41471298 and 32060275); the Key Research and Development Project of Jiangxi Province (20192ACB70014); the Opening Fund of the Key Laboratory of Poyang Lake Wetland and Watershed Research (Jiangxi Normal University), Ministry of Education (PK2018002 and PK2020005); the Science and Technology Project of the Education Department of Jiangxi Province (GJJ191706) and the Young Talents Project of Jiangxi Normal University.

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Conceptualization, JX, Y.W., CF and QH; methodology, JX; software, JX and ZJ; investigation, JX; data curation, JX and ZJ; writing—original draft preparation, JX and ZJ; writing—review and editing, JX and YW; supervision, JX and YW; funding acquisition, JX All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jian Xu.

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Xu, J., Jian, Z., Wang, Y. et al. Spatial–seasonal characteristics and influencing factors of dissolved organic carbon and chromophoric dissolved organic matter in Poyang Lake. Environ Earth Sci 82, 44 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-022-10736-8

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