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LAKE DISSOLVED INORGANIC CARBON AND DISSOLVED OXYGEN: CHANGING DRIVERS FROM DAYS TO DECADES
Author(s) -
Hanson Paul C.,
Carpenter Stephen R.,
Armstrong David E.,
Stanley Emily H.,
Kratz Timothy K.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
ecological monographs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.254
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1557-7015
pISSN - 0012-9615
DOI - 10.1890/0012-9615(2006)076[0343:ldicad]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - dissolved organic carbon , ecosystem , abiotic component , environmental science , diel vertical migration , aquatic ecosystem , environmental chemistry , atmosphere (unit) , ecology , biogeochemistry , carbon cycle , carbon dioxide , hydrology (agriculture) , chemistry , biology , geology , physics , geotechnical engineering , thermodynamics
Dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and dissolved oxygen (DO) are commonly measured to compute metabolism of aquatic ecosystems. However, concentrations of DIC and DO depend on many factors in addition to ecosystem metabolism, such as water temperature, gas exchange with the atmosphere, abiotic chemical reactions, and inputs in precipitation, groundwater, and surface water. We used 20‐year time series from seven lakes to understand how DIC and DO concentrations are controlled as a function of time scale. Diel cycles of both solutes are controlled primarily by metabolism, exchange with the atmosphere, and temperature. At seasonal and annual scales, metabolism is important, but physical processes associated with spring and autumn mixing, as well as solute loading from the watershed, have comparably large effects. At decadal scales, effects of metabolism are negligible. Controls of the two solutes diverge, with variance in DIC explained largely by solute inputs and variance in DO explained largely by water temperature. Like other indicators in many ecosystems, variability of DIC and DO is strongly scale dependent and associated with different drivers depending on the time scale of the analysis.