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Lake browning may fuel phytoplankton biomass and trigger shifts in phytoplankton communities in temperate lakes

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Abstract

Lake browning—the increase in catchment-derived (allochthonous) dissolved organic matter (DOM) to lakes—is altering lake physicochemical environments, with consequences for phytoplankton biomass and community composition. We hypothesized that as lakes brown, there will be an increase in phytoplankton biomass and a shift to cyanobacteria-dominated phytoplankton communities as a result of the reduced light availability and increased DOM-bound nutrients (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorus, iron). We tested this hypothesis by sampling temperate lakes in central Ontario (Canada) spanning DOM quantity and quality gradients. We found that lake browning results in larger concentrations of more refractory (i.e., aromatic, high molecular weight) DOM and greater concentrations of nutrients; however, internal nutrient loading was also an important nutrient source in these lakes. We also found that these changes were related to the predominant species in the phytoplankton community. Diatoms dominated in clear oligotrophic lakes. Low levels of lake browning, with concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) between 4 and 8 mg L− 1, resulted in a shift from diatoms to cyanobacteria. Higher levels of lake browning, with concentrations of DOC between 8 and 12 mg L− 1, resulted in a replacement of cyanobacteria with mixotrophic species. Lake browning appears to fuel phytoplankton chlorophyll-a concentrations while triggering shifts to phytoplankton able to survive if not thrive in progressively browner waters. Lake browning may therefore have consequences on energy transfer through the lower food web.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by an NSERC Discovery Grants 06579-2014 and 4458-2016 awarded to IFC and CGT, respectively, and an NSERC CREATE ABATE awarded to IFC and CGT (448172-2014). We acknowledge the OMECP Dorset Environmental Sciences Center (DESC) at Dorset, ON and the OMECP Laboratory Services Branch in Toronto, ON for assistance in completing the water analyses.

Funding

This project was funded by Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERCC) CREATE (448172-2014) and Discovery (06579-2014 RGPIN) grants to IFC.

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Author notes

  1. Charles G. Trick

    Present address: Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, 112 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5C8, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Western University, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, N6A 5B7, Canada

    Oscar E. Senar, Irena F. Creed & Charles G. Trick

  2. School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan, 117 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5C8, Canada

    Irena F. Creed

  3. Interfaculty Program in Public Health, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, N6G 2M1, Canada

    Charles G. Trick

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  1. Oscar E. Senar
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Contributions

OS, IC and CT collaborated on developing the study rationale, scope, and design. IC provided the facilities and supervision to complete the study. OS collected and analyzed the data. OS, IC and CT collaborated on writing the introduction, methods, results, and discussion of the study.

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Correspondence to Irena F. Creed.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Senar, O.E., Creed, I.F. & Trick, C.G. Lake browning may fuel phytoplankton biomass and trigger shifts in phytoplankton communities in temperate lakes. Aquat Sci 83, 21 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-021-00780-0

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