Abstract
The role of trace metal micronutrients in limiting cyanobacterial growth and structuring the phytoplankton community is becoming more evident. However, little is known regarding the extent of micronutrient limitation in freshwaters or which micronutrient conditions favour potentially-toxic cyanobacteria. To assess how freshwater phytoplankton respond to micronutrient and macronutrient additions, we conducted nutrient amendment bioassays at seven sites across South Eastern-Australia. Sites were variable in cyanobacterial cell densities and phytoplankton community compositions. At two sites, Mannus Lake and Burrendong Dam, micronutrient additions (iron, cobalt, copper, manganese, molybdenum and zinc) increased cyanobacterial growth, indicating micronutrient limitation. Both sites had cyanobacterial blooms present at the onset of the experiment, dominated by Chrysosporum ovalisporum at Mannus Lake and Microcystis aeruginosa at Burrendong Dam. This suggests that micronutrients may be an important regulator of the severity of cyanobacterial blooms and may become limiting when there is high competition for nutrient resources. The addition of the micronutrient mixture resulted in a higher proportion of cyanobacteria compared to the control and a lower diversity community compared to phosphorus additions, indicating that micronutrients can not only influence cyanobacterial biovolume but also their ability to dominate the phytoplankton community. This reinforces that micronutrient requirements of phytoplankton are often species specific. As micronutrient enrichment is often overlooked when assessing nutrient-constraints on cyanobacterial growth, this study provides valuable insight into the conditions that may influence cyanobacterial blooms and the potential contribution of micronutrients to eutrophication.
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The datasets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We wish to thank Josh King for his assistance with ICP-MS analysis and Nikolai Love for his help with phytoplankton identification and enumeration.
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JAF, SMM and SCA contributed to the study conception and design. Sample collection was performed by JAF and TAR. Analysis was performed by JAF with advice from SMM and SCA. The first draft of the manuscript was written by JAF and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Facey, J.A., Rogers, T.A., Apte, S.C. et al. Micronutrients as growth limiting factors in cyanobacterial blooms; a survey of freshwaters in South East Australia. Aquat Sci 83, 28 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-021-00783-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-021-00783-x