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Nitrogen dynamics and microbial food web structure during a summer cyanobacterial bloom in a subtropical, shallow, well-mixed, eutrophic lake (Lake Taihu, China)

  • Eutrophication in Lakes
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Abstract

Nitrogen dynamics and microbial food web structure were characterized in subtropical, eutrophic, large (2,338 km2), shallow (1.9 m mean depth), and polymictic Lake Taihu (China) in Sept–Oct 2002 during a cyanobacterial bloom. Population growth and industrialization are factors in trophic status deterioration in Lake Taihu. Sites for investigation were selected along a transect from the Liangxihe River discharge into Meiliang Bay to the main lake. Water column nitrogen and microbial food web measurements were combined with sediment–water interface incubations to characterize and identify important processes related to system nitrogen dynamics. Results indicate a gradient from strong phosphorus limitation at the river discharge to nitrogen limitation or co-limitation in the main lake. Denitrification in Meiliang Bay may drive main lake nitrogen limitation by removing excess nitrogen before physical transport to the main lake. Five times higher nutrient mineralization rates in the water column versus sediments indicate that sediment nutrient transformations were not as important as water column processes for fueling primary production. However, sediments provide a site for denitrification, which, along with nitrogen fixation and other processes, can determine available nutrient ratios. Dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) was important, relative to denitrification, only at the river discharge site, and nitrogen fixation was observed only in the main lake. Reflecting nitrogen cycling patterns, microbial food web structure shifted from autotrophic (phytoplankton dominated) at the river discharge to heterotrophic (bacteria dominated) in and near the main lake.

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported in part by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (contract No. KZCX1-SW-12), the National Science Foundation of China (Grant #40371104), and the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Regents Chair in Marine Science held by Gardner. Several members of the faculty, staff, and graduate students at the Taihu Laboratory for Lake Ecosystem Research contributed field assistance and discussion during this project. Special assistance was provided by Dr. Zhu Guangwei. The authors thank Dr. Dmitri Sobolev for comments on the manuscript and Dr. Hilairy Hartnett for discussion on dissolved gas sample preservation techniques.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Science Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, 750 Channel View Drive, Port Aransas, TX, 78373, USA

    Mark J. McCarthy & Wayne S. Gardner

  2. Department of Biology, The University of Akron, Akron, OH, 44325, USA

    Peter J. Lavrentyev

  3. Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 73 East Beijing Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210008, P.R. China

    Longyuan Yang, Lu Zhang, Yuwei Chen & Boqiang Qin

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  1. Mark J. McCarthy
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  2. Peter J. Lavrentyev
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  7. Wayne S. Gardner
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Correspondence to Mark J. McCarthy.

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McCarthy, M.J., Lavrentyev, P.J., Yang, L. et al. Nitrogen dynamics and microbial food web structure during a summer cyanobacterial bloom in a subtropical, shallow, well-mixed, eutrophic lake (Lake Taihu, China). Hydrobiologia 581, 195–207 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-006-0496-2

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