Open AccessLake browning generates a spatiotemporal mismatch between dissolved organic carbon and limiting nutrients
Author(s) -
Stetler Jonathan T.,
Knoll Lesley B.,
Driscoll Charles T.,
Rose Kevin C.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2378-2242
DOI - 10.1002/lol2.10194
Subject(s) - dissolved organic carbon , nutrient , browning , limiting , productivity , phosphorus , nitrogen , environmental science , total organic carbon , carbon fibers , environmental chemistry , ecology , chemistry , biology , mathematics , food science , mechanical engineering , macroeconomics , organic chemistry , algorithm , composite number , engineering , economics
Widespread long‐term increases in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations (i.e., “browning”) have been observed in many lakes, but the ecological consequences are poorly understood. Some studies suggest a unimodal relationship between DOC and primary productivity, with peak productivity at intermediate DOC concentrations. This peak is hypothesized to result from the tradeoff between light absorbing properties of DOC, and increases in limiting nutrients with browning. Nevertheless, it is unclear whether nutrient stoichiometry is constant as lakes brown. Across both regional and national surveys, we found a positive linear relationship between DOC and both total and organic forms of nitrogen and phosphorus. However, long‐term data from a suite of browning lakes indicates that total nutrients do not increase as DOC increases through time. Our results show that DOC and limiting nutrients are coupled spatially, but not temporally, and that this temporal mismatch challenges previous conceptualizations of the long‐term effects of browning on productivity.