Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Terrestrial organic matter support of lake food webs : evidence from lake metabolism and stable hydrogen isotopes of consumers

Karlsson, Jan ; Berggren, Martin LU ; Ask, Jenny ; Byström, Pär ; Jonsson, Anders ; Laudon, Hjalmar and Jansson, Mats (2012) In Limnology and Oceanography 57(4). p.1042-1048
Abstract
We quantified the utilization of terrestrial organic matter (OM) in the food web of a humic lake by analyzing the metabolism and the consumers' stable isotopic (C, H, N) composition in benthic and pelagic habitats. Terrestrial OM inputs (3 g C m(-2) d(-1)) to the lake greatly exceeded autochthonous OM production (3 mg C m(-2) d(-1)) in the lake. Heterotrophic bacterial growth (19 mg C m(-2) d(-1)) and community respiration (115 mg C m(-2) d(-1)) were high relative to algal photosynthesis and were predominantly (> 85%) supported by terrestrial OM in both habitats. Consequently, terrestrial OM fueled most (85%) of the total production at the base of the lake's food web (i.e., the sum of primary and bacterial production). Despite the... (More)
We quantified the utilization of terrestrial organic matter (OM) in the food web of a humic lake by analyzing the metabolism and the consumers' stable isotopic (C, H, N) composition in benthic and pelagic habitats. Terrestrial OM inputs (3 g C m(-2) d(-1)) to the lake greatly exceeded autochthonous OM production (3 mg C m(-2) d(-1)) in the lake. Heterotrophic bacterial growth (19 mg C m(-2) d(-1)) and community respiration (115 mg C m(-2) d(-1)) were high relative to algal photosynthesis and were predominantly (> 85%) supported by terrestrial OM in both habitats. Consequently, terrestrial OM fueled most (85%) of the total production at the base of the lake's food web (i.e., the sum of primary and bacterial production). Despite the uncertainties of quantitatively estimating resource use based on stable isotopes, terrestrial OM clearly also supported around half the zooplankton (47%), macrozoobenthos (63%), and fish (57%) biomass. These results indicate that, although rates of terrestrial OM inputs were around three orders of magnitude greater than that of autochthonous OM production, the use of the two resources by higher trophic levels was roughly equal. The disproportionally low reliance on terrestrial OM at higher trophic levels, compared with its high rates of input and high support of basic biomass production in the lake, suggests that autochthonous resources could not be completely replaced by terrestrial resources and indicates an upper limit to terrestrial support of lake food webs. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
NORTHERN SWEDEN, ALLOCHTHONOUS CARBON, BACTERIAL PRODUCTION, SECONDARY PRODUCTION, AQUATIC CONSUMERS, C-13 ADDITION, BOREAL LAKES, HUMIC LAKES, PHYTOPLANKTON, ZOOPLANKTON
in
Limnology and Oceanography
volume
57
issue
4
pages
1042 - 1048
publisher
ASLO
external identifiers
  • wos:000307269300011
  • scopus:84868674077
ISSN
1939-5590
DOI
10.4319/lo.2012.57.4.1042
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
4c62d876-8da8-4949-88a6-e192f1e5f0e6 (old id 3055032)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:09:00
date last changed
2022-04-21 20:02:04
@article{4c62d876-8da8-4949-88a6-e192f1e5f0e6,
  abstract     = {{We quantified the utilization of terrestrial organic matter (OM) in the food web of a humic lake by analyzing the metabolism and the consumers' stable isotopic (C, H, N) composition in benthic and pelagic habitats. Terrestrial OM inputs (3 g C m(-2) d(-1)) to the lake greatly exceeded autochthonous OM production (3 mg C m(-2) d(-1)) in the lake. Heterotrophic bacterial growth (19 mg C m(-2) d(-1)) and community respiration (115 mg C m(-2) d(-1)) were high relative to algal photosynthesis and were predominantly (> 85%) supported by terrestrial OM in both habitats. Consequently, terrestrial OM fueled most (85%) of the total production at the base of the lake's food web (i.e., the sum of primary and bacterial production). Despite the uncertainties of quantitatively estimating resource use based on stable isotopes, terrestrial OM clearly also supported around half the zooplankton (47%), macrozoobenthos (63%), and fish (57%) biomass. These results indicate that, although rates of terrestrial OM inputs were around three orders of magnitude greater than that of autochthonous OM production, the use of the two resources by higher trophic levels was roughly equal. The disproportionally low reliance on terrestrial OM at higher trophic levels, compared with its high rates of input and high support of basic biomass production in the lake, suggests that autochthonous resources could not be completely replaced by terrestrial resources and indicates an upper limit to terrestrial support of lake food webs.}},
  author       = {{Karlsson, Jan and Berggren, Martin and Ask, Jenny and Byström, Pär and Jonsson, Anders and Laudon, Hjalmar and Jansson, Mats}},
  issn         = {{1939-5590}},
  keywords     = {{NORTHERN SWEDEN; ALLOCHTHONOUS CARBON; BACTERIAL PRODUCTION; SECONDARY PRODUCTION; AQUATIC CONSUMERS; C-13 ADDITION; BOREAL LAKES; HUMIC LAKES; PHYTOPLANKTON; ZOOPLANKTON}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{1042--1048}},
  publisher    = {{ASLO}},
  series       = {{Limnology and Oceanography}},
  title        = {{Terrestrial organic matter support of lake food webs : evidence from lake metabolism and stable hydrogen isotopes of consumers}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4319/lo.2012.57.4.1042}},
  doi          = {{10.4319/lo.2012.57.4.1042}},
  volume       = {{57}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}