Nitrogen deposition and warming – effects on phytoplankton nutrient limitation in subarctic lakes

Bergström, Ann‐Kristin; Faithfull, Carolyn; Karlsson, Daniel; Karlsson, Jan

doi:10.1111/gcb.12234

Cited by 53 publications

(68 citation statements)

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“…The majority of the hydrological loading to these lakes occurs during spring snowmelt and autumn rains, and such inputs are much lower during summer (cf. Bergströ m et al 2008Bergströ m et al , 2013, during which time internal processes, such as nutrient regeneration from the sediments (cf. Levine and Schindler 1992), or as indicated from our results, nutrient regeneration by zooplankton appears to become an important determinant of nutrient availability to phytoplankton.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The terrestrial net primary production, which is correlated with air temperature, ranges from 2 g C m À2 yr À1 (high-alpine) to 250 g C m À2 yr À1 (sub-alpine) . Precipitation (Karlsson et al 2005) and N deposition varies little with altitude; wet dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) deposition , 0.3 kg N ha À1 yr À1 (Bergströ m et al 2013). Anthropogenic influences via land use are negligible.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We also used data from previously published bioassay experiments for assessing which nutrient was limiting phytoplankton production (Bergströ m et al 2013). These full factorial Nand P-amendment experiments were conducted at the same time as the water and zooplankton sampling.…”

Section: Sampling and Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here we present a study on the elemental stoichiometry of seston and crustacean zooplankton in a series of subarctic headwater lakes in northern Sweden with low N deposition where phytoplankton are primarily N-and NP-limited (Bergströ m et al 2008(Bergströ m et al , 2013. By using stoichiometric models (Sterner 1990, Hassett et al 1997), we estimated the N:P imbalances between prey (seston) and consumers (zooplankton) and the consumer driven N:P regeneration ratios.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By using stoichiometric models (Sterner 1990, Hassett et al 1997), we estimated the N:P imbalances between prey (seston) and consumers (zooplankton) and the consumer driven N:P regeneration ratios. We also tested if consumer driven N:P regeneration was related to patterns in N-or P-limitation of phytoplankton (Bergströ m et al 2013) and compared our results with previous studies from subarctic and boreal lakes with low and high N deposition (Hassett et al 1997, Dobberfuhl andElser 2000), and marine ocean sites where zooplankton-phytoplankton interactions have been assessed Hassett 1994, Hassett et al 1997). We hypothesize that (1) N:P imbalances between seston and zooplankton are negative (i.e., similar to ocean sites with Nlimited phytoplankton), which results in low consumer-driven N:P regeneration, and (2) the N:P regeneration ratio of the consumers is negatively related to the strength of phytoplankton N-limitation relative to P-limitation, i.e., consumer-driven nutrient recycling in these systems further enhances N-limitation particularly in systems with large negative N:P imbalance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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N‐limited consumer growth and low nutrient regeneration N:P ratios in lakes with low N deposition

Bergström

Karlsson

et al. 2015

Ecosphere

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Abstract. Nutrient limitation of primary producers and their consumers can have a large influence on ecosystem productivity. The nature and strength of nutrient limitation is driven both by external factors (e.g., nutrient loading) and internal processes (e.g., consumer-driven nutrient regeneration). Here we present results from a field study in 10 low productive headwater lakes in northern subarctic Sweden, where nitrogen (N) deposition is low and phytoplankton is primarily N-limited. We assessed the carbon:nitrogen:phosphorus (C:N:P) stoichiometry of seston and zooplankton and estimated the N:P ratio of consumer-driven nutrient regeneration. Based on stoichiometric models, the estimated elemental imbalances between seston and zooplankton suggest that zooplankton were mainly N-limited and regenerated nutrients with low N:P ratios (median 11.9, atomic ratio). The predicted N:P regeneration ratios were consistent with results from phytoplankton nutrient limitation bioassays in mid-summer, i.e., the N:P regeneration was predicted to be low when phytoplankton were N-limited, and high when phytoplankton were P-limited. During other seasons, when water discharge was high, nutrient loading from the surrounding catchments apparently had the strongest effect on phytoplankton nutrient limitation. We propose that lakes with higher N:P ratios than the open ocean is an effect of N deposition, that Nlimitation of consumers and phytoplankton is further enhanced by low nutrient regeneration N:P ratios, and that in the absence of N deposition, lake and ocean N:P stoichiometry are similar.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sampling and Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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N‐limited consumer growth and low nutrient regeneration N:P ratios in lakes with low N deposition

Bergström

Karlsson

et al. 2015

Ecosphere

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Future Riverine Inorganic Nitrogen Load to the Baltic Sea From Sweden: An Ensemble Approach to Assessing Climate Change Effects

Teutschbein

Sponseller

Grabs

et al. 2017

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

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The dramatic increase of bioreactive nitrogen entering Earth's ecosystems continues to attract growing attention. Increasingly large quantities of inorganic nitrogen are flushed from land to water, accelerating freshwater and marine eutrophication. Multiple, interacting, and potentially countervailing drivers control the future hydrologic export of inorganic nitrogen. In this paper, we attempt to resolve these land-water interactions across boreal/hemiboreal Sweden in the face of a changing climate with help of a versatile modeling framework to maximize the information value of existing measurement time series. We combined 6962 spatially distributed water chemistry observations spread over 31 years with daily streamflow and air temperature records. An ensemble of climate model projections, hydrological simulations and several parameter parsimonious regression models was employed to project future riverine inorganic nitrogen dynamics across Sweden. The median predicted increase in total inorganic nitrogen export from Sweden (2061Sweden ( -2090 due to climate change was 14% (interquartile range 0-29%), based on the ensemble of 7500 different predictions for each study site. The overall export as well as the seasonal pattern of inorganic nitrogen loads in a future climate are mostly influenced by longer growing seasons and more winter flow, which offset the expected decline in spring flood. The predicted increase in inorganic nitrogen loading due to climate change means that the political efforts for reducing anthropogenic nitrogen inputs need to be increased if ambitions for reducing the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea are to be achieved. 43 Introduction 44Multiple ongoing global changes have reshaped the pools and fluxes of biogeochemical 45 elements in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Of these, dramatic increases in the loading of 46 bioreactive nitrogen (N) to terrestrial ecosystems during the 20th century have drawn particular 47 attention (Galloway et al., 2008) and are linked to multiple environmental problems, ranging 48 from declines in species diversity to stratospheric ozone loss (Gruber & Galloway, 2008). Large 49 quantities of N are also flushed from land to water (Seitzinger et al., 2005) which contribute to 50 freshwater and marine eutrophication (Conley et al., 2009). These mounting water quality 51 concerns are linked to hydrological patterns that are themselves sensitive to climate drivers 52 (IPCC, 2014). Concurrent to these global increases in N inputs, warming temperatures, longer 53 growing seasons, and rising atmospheric CO 2 concentrations may lead to increased plant growth 54 (Richardson et al., 2010), greater N uptake and accumulation in terrestrial ecosystems (Luo et al., 55 2004) and, in some cases, reduced N losses to surface waters (Lucas et al., 2016). Thus, future 56 change in hydrologic export of bioreactive N from catchments will reflect multiple, interacting, 57 and sometimes countervailing drivers. Resolving these land-water interactions and predicting 58 future d...

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Lake nutrient stoichiometry is less predictable than nutrient concentrations at regional and sub‐continental scales

Collins

Oliver

Lapierre

et al. 2017

Ecological Applications

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Production in many ecosystems is co-limited by multiple elements. While a known suite of drivers associated with nutrient sources, nutrient transport, and internal processing controls concentrations of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) in lakes, much less is known about whether the drivers of single nutrient concentrations can also explain spatial or temporal variation in lake N:P stoichiometry. Predicting stoichiometry might be more complex than predicting concentrations of individual elements because some drivers have similar relationships with N and P, leading to a weak relationship with their ratio. Further, the dominant controls on elemental concentrations likely vary across regions, resulting in context dependent relationships between drivers, lake nutrients and their ratios. Here, we examine whether known drivers of N and P concentrations can explain variation in N:P stoichiometry, and whether explaining variation in stoichiometry differs across regions. We examined drivers of N:P in ~2,700 lakes at a sub-continental scale and two large regions nested within the sub-continental study area that have contrasting ecological context, including differences in the dominant type of land cover (agriculture vs. forest). At the sub-continental scale, lake nutrient concentrations were correlated with nutrient loading and lake internal processing, but stoichiometry was only weakly correlated to drivers of lake nutrients. At the regional scale, drivers that explained variation in nutrients and stoichiometry differed between regions. In the Midwestern U.S. region, dominated by agricultural land use, lake depth and the percentage of row crop agriculture were strong predictors of stoichiometry because only phosphorus was related to lake depth and only nitrogen was related to the percentage of row crop agriculture. In contrast, all drivers were related to N and P in similar ways in the Northeastern U.S. region, leading to weak relationships between drivers and stoichiometry. Our results suggest ecological context mediates controls on lake nutrients and stoichiometry. Predicting stoichiometry was generally more difficult than predicting nutrient concentrations, but human activity may decouple N and P, leading to better prediction of N:P stoichiometry in regions with high anthropogenic activity.

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Nitrogen deposition and warming – effects on phytoplankton nutrient limitation in subarctic lakes

Cited by 53 publications

References 45 publications

N‐limited consumer growth and low nutrient regeneration N:P ratios in lakes with low N deposition

N‐limited consumer growth and low nutrient regeneration N:P ratios in lakes with low N deposition

Future Riverine Inorganic Nitrogen Load to the Baltic Sea From Sweden: An Ensemble Approach to Assessing Climate Change Effects

Lake nutrient stoichiometry is less predictable than nutrient concentrations at regional and sub‐continental scales

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