Environmental conditions for phytoplankton influenced carbon dynamics in boreal lakes

Abstract

The partial pressure of CO2 (pCO(2)) in lake water, and thus CO2 emissions from lakes are controlled by hydrologic inorganic carbon inputs into lakes, and in-lake carbon transformation (mainly organic carbon mineralization and CO2 uptake by primary producers). In boreal lakes, CO2 uptake by phytoplankton is often considered to be of minor importance. At present, however, it is not known in which and how many boreal lakes phytoplankton CO2 uptake has a sizeable influence on the lake water pCO(2). Using water physico-chemical and phytoplankton data from 126 widely spread Swedish lakes from 1992 to 2012, we found that pCO(2) was negatively related to phytoplankton carbon in lakes in which the phytoplankton share in TOC (C-phyto:TOC ratio) exceeded 5%. Total phosphorus concentration (TP) was the strongest predictor of spatial variation in the C-phyto:TOC ratio, where C-phyto:TOC ratios>5% occurred in lakes with TP>30 mu gl(-1). These lakes were located in the hemi-boreal zone of central and southern Sweden. We conclude that during summer, phytoplankton CO2 uptake can reduce the pCO(2) not only in warm eutrophic lakes, but also in relatively nutrient poor hemi-boreal lakes.

Keywords

Phytoplankton; CO2 emission; Authochthonous organic carbon; TOC; Global carbon cycle; Lake carbon cycling

Published in

Aquatic Sciences - Research Across Boundaries
2019, Volume: 81, number: 2, article number: 35
Publisher: SPRINGER BASEL AG

SLU Authors

• Drakare, Stina

  • Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG6 Clean water and sanitation


UKÄ Subject classification

Ecology
Oceanography, Hydrology, Water Resources


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-019-0631-6

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/99230