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Natural variability of carbon dioxide and net epilimnetic production in the surface waters of boreal lakes of different sizes
Author(s) -
Kelly Carol A.,
Fee Everett,
Ramlal Patricia S.,
Rudd John W. M.,
Hesslein Raymond H.,
Anema Cory,
Schindler Eva U.
Publication year - 2001
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 - 10.4319/lo.2001.46.5.1054
Subject(s) - environmental science , carbon dioxide , plankton , epilimnion , phytoplankton , annual cycle , carbon cycle , total organic carbon , stratification (seeds) , physical geography , hydrology (agriculture) , nutrient , atmospheric sciences , oceanography , ecology , eutrophication , hypolimnion , ecosystem , geology , biology , geography , seed dormancy , botany , germination , geotechnical engineering , dormancy
The variability of surface water carbon dioxide concentration, or partial pressure (pCO 2 ), was studied in 11 lakes of greatly varying size (2.4 ha up to 8 million ha) in Northwest Ontario, Canada. Six of these lakes were chosen to be as similar as possible in all respects except surface area (the Northwest Ontario Lake Size Series [NOLSS], which range from 88 to 35,000 ha). Spatial and temporal variability of p CO2 within a single lake was no greater in the larger lakes than in the smaller lakes. Interannual variability was significant and synchronous, which indicates that weather patterns were important and affected the different lakes within the region in a similar manner. However, annual p CO 2 averages were not related to annual differences in planktonic photosynthetic activity, measured by 14 CO 2 fixation. In the six NOLSS lakes, there was not a significant relationship of average pCO 2 with lake size. For all 11 lakes, however, there was a significant negative correlation of p CO 2 with lake size, which was likely due to several characteristics of the very small and very large lakes that covaried with size. The larger lakes were deeper and had longer water residence times and lower DOC, which suggests lower CO 2 production from allochthonous organic carbon inputs. Also, the ratio of epilimnetic sediment area/epilimnetic volume (Ae/Ve) was smaller in the larger lakes, which likely resulted in lower rates of recycling of fixed carbon to CO 2 during summer stratification.