Premium
Shifts in microbial food web structure and productivity after additions of naturally occurring dissolved organic matter: Results from large‐scale lacustrine mesocosms
Author(s) -
Sanders Robert W.,
Cooke Sandra L.,
Fischer Janet M.,
Fey Samuel B.,
Heinze Adam W.,
Jeffrey Wade H.,
Macaluso Amy L.,
Moeller Robert E.,
Morris Donald P.,
Neale Patrick J.,
Olson Mark H.,
Dean Pakulski J.,
Porter Jason A.,
Schoener Donald M.,
Williamson Craig E.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.1002/lno.10159
Subject(s) - colored dissolved organic matter , dissolved organic carbon , phytoplankton , food web , mesocosm , environmental chemistry , microbial food web , plankton , zooplankton , nutrient , pelagic zone , environmental science , trophic level , heterotroph , microcosm , ecology , chemistry , biology , bacteria , genetics
Predicting the effects of dissolved organic matter (DOM) on pelagic food webs can be difficult because DOM modifies water column optics and can have contrasting effects on species across trophic levels. We combined large mesocosm, smaller‐scale experiments and autoregressive modeling driven bu DOC concentration or DOM optical quality (colored DOM, or CDOM, measured as DOC‐specific absorbance at 320 nm, SUVA 320 ) to assess how heterotrophic and phototrophic microbial populations were altered in a temperate oligotrophic lake. DOM additions yielded DOC concentrations of 1.6 mg L −1 (control) 2.5 mg L −1 , 3.0 mg L −1 , and 4.3 mg L −1 . Primary (PP) and bacterial (BP) production as well as heterotrophic and autotrophic protist abundances were stimulated in the higher DOM additions. BP responded rapidly to DOM additions, but unlike PP, returned to the level of controls within 2–7 d. A bioassay showed that the DOM was a nitrogen source for phytoplankton. The two models revealed that BP and edible phytoplankton were stimulated by CDOM (SUVA 320 ), but only BP was stimulated by DOC concentration. Ultraviolet radiation (UV) inhibited protists in both models, but stimulated edible phytoplankton only in the SUVA 320 model runs. These results suggest that in transparent oligotrophic lakes large influxes of terrestrial (high SUVA 320 ) DOM will stimulate the microbial food web by providing a nutrient subsidy to bacteria and reducing exposure of protists to damaging UV. Nutrients associated with moderate DOM input may also stimulate PP relative to BP, as was observed in these and other experiments, rather than causing an overall system shift toward heterotrophy.