Bromine as indicator of source of lacustrine sedimentary organic matter in paleolimnological studies

2019 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 257-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Ribeiro Guevara ◽  
Andrea Rizzo ◽  
Romina Daga ◽  
Natalia Williams ◽  
Stefania Villa

AbstractBromine (Br) to organic matter (OM) concentration ratio is studied in lake sediment sequences to provide information on environmental changes modifying OM production. The sequences studied were extracted from shallow lakes Morenito, El Trébol, Escondido, and Portezuelo; and deep lakes Futalaufquen, Moreno, and Traful (North Patagonia Andean range). Lake Morenito, a former Lake Moreno bay until its closure in AD 1960, showed a decrease in Br:OM ratios from 1.38 to 0.74 after lake closure, associated with an increase of primary autochthonous productivity attributable to the development of submerged and emerging macrophytes. Sedimentary sequences from Lakes Escondido, Portezuelo, and El Trébol (with large participation of macrophytes in primary productivity), and from Lakes Moreno, Futalaufquen, and Traful (with little development of littoral macrophytes), showed Br:OM ratios consistent with the Lake Morenito pattern. Consistently, the morphometric parameters mean depth and shoreline development correlate with Br:OM ratios. Therefore, Br:OM ratios can be associated with the composition of primary autochthonous productivity, with values of about 0.7 associated to significant macrophyte contributions, and higher values associated with more pelagic contributions. Accordingly, Br:OM variations along a sedimentary sequence can be associated with modifications on the composition of the primary autochthonous productivity of the water body, providing information on environmental changes.

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-122
Author(s):  
Julia M. Moriarty ◽  
Marjorie A. M. Friedrichs ◽  
Courtney K. Harris

AbstractSediment processes, including resuspension and transport, affect water quality in estuaries by altering light attenuation, primary productivity, and organic matter remineralization, which then influence oxygen and nitrogen dynamics. The relative importance of these processes on oxygen and nitrogen dynamics varies in space and time due to multiple factors and is difficult to measure, however, motivating a modeling approach to quantify how sediment resuspension and transport affect estuarine biogeochemistry. Results from a coupled hydrodynamic–sediment transport–biogeochemical model of the Chesapeake Bay for the summers of 2002 and 2003 showed that resuspension increased light attenuation, especially in the northernmost portion of the Bay, shifting primary production downstream. Resuspension also increased remineralization in the central Bay, which experienced larger organic matter concentrations due to the downstream shift in primary productivity and estuarine circulation. As a result, oxygen decreased and ammonium increased throughout the Bay in the bottom portion of the water column, due to reduced photosynthesis in the northernmost portion of the Bay and increased remineralization in the central Bay. Averaged over the channel, resuspension decreased oxygen by ~ 25% and increased ammonium by ~ 50% for the bottom water column. Changes due to resuspension were of the same order of magnitude as, and generally exceeded, short-term variations within individual summers, as well as interannual variability between 2002 and 2003, which were wet and dry years, respectively. Our results quantify the degree to which sediment resuspension and transport affect biogeochemistry, and provide insight into how coastal systems may respond to management efforts and environmental changes.


2008 ◽  
Vol 43 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 85-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua R. Thienpont ◽  
Brian K. Ginn ◽  
Brian F. Cumming ◽  
John P. Smol

Abstract Paleolimnological approaches using sedimentary diatom assemblages were used to assess water quality changes over the last approximately 200 years in three lakes from King's County, Nova Scotia. In particular, the role of recent shoreline development in accelerating eutrophication in these systems was assessed. Sediment cores collected from each lake were analyzed for their diatom assemblages at approximately 5-year intervals, as determined by 210Pb dating. Analyses showed that each system has changed, but tracked different ecosystem changes. Tupper and George lakes recorded shifts, which are likely primarily related to climatic warming, with diatom assemblages changing from a preindustrial dominance by Aulacoseira spp. to present-day dominance by Cyclotella stelligera. In addition to the recent climatic-related changes, further diatom changes in the Tupper Lake core between approximately 1820 and 1970 were coincident with watershed disturbances (farming, forestry, and construction of hydroelectric power infrastructure). Black River Lake has recorded an increase in diatom-inferred total phosphorus since about 1950, likely due to impoundment of the Black River system for hydroelectric generation and subsequent changes in land runoff. Before-and-after (i.e., top-bottom) sediment analyses of six other lakes from King's County provided further evidence that the region is being influenced by climatic change (decreases in Aulacoseira spp., increases in planktonic diatom taxa), as well as showing other environmental stressors (e.g., acidification). However, we recorded no marked increase in diatom-inferred nutrient levels coincident with shoreline cottage development in any of the nine study lakes. Paleolimnological studies such as these allow lake managers to place the current limnological conditions into a long-term context, and thereby provide important background data for effective lake management.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 209-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stacy Deppeler ◽  
Katherina Petrou ◽  
Kai G. Schulz ◽  
Karen Westwood ◽  
Imojen Pearce ◽  
...  

Abstract. High-latitude oceans are anticipated to be some of the first regions affected by ocean acidification. Despite this, the effect of ocean acidification on natural communities of Antarctic marine microbes is still not well understood. In this study we exposed an early spring, coastal marine microbial community in Prydz Bay to CO2 levels ranging from ambient (343 µatm) to 1641 µatm in six 650 L minicosms. Productivity assays were performed to identify whether a CO2 threshold existed that led to a change in primary productivity, bacterial productivity, and the accumulation of chlorophyll a (Chl a) and particulate organic matter (POM) in the minicosms. In addition, photophysiological measurements were performed to identify possible mechanisms driving changes in the phytoplankton community. A critical threshold for tolerance to ocean acidification was identified in the phytoplankton community between 953 and 1140 µatm. CO2 levels  ≥ 1140 µatm negatively affected photosynthetic performance and Chl a-normalised primary productivity (csGPP14C), causing significant reductions in gross primary production (GPP14C), Chl a accumulation, nutrient uptake, and POM production. However, there was no effect of CO2 on C : N ratios. Over time, the phytoplankton community acclimated to high CO2 conditions, showing a down-regulation of carbon concentrating mechanisms (CCMs) and likely adjusting other intracellular processes. Bacterial abundance initially increased in CO2 treatments  ≥ 953 µatm (days 3–5), yet gross bacterial production (GBP14C) remained unchanged and cell-specific bacterial productivity (csBP14C) was reduced. Towards the end of the experiment, GBP14C and csBP14C markedly increased across all treatments regardless of CO2 availability. This coincided with increased organic matter availability (POC and PON) combined with improved efficiency of carbon uptake. Changes in phytoplankton community production could have negative effects on the Antarctic food web and the biological pump, resulting in negative feedbacks on anthropogenic CO2 uptake. Increases in bacterial abundance under high CO2 conditions may also increase the efficiency of the microbial loop, resulting in increased organic matter remineralisation and further declines in carbon sequestration.


2008 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Mayr ◽  
Andreas Lücke ◽  
Nora I. Maidana ◽  
Michael Wille ◽  
Torsten Haberzettl ◽  
...  

1996 ◽  
Vol 34 (9) ◽  
pp. 101-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kuroda ◽  
T. Watanabe ◽  
Y. Umedu

Application of a bio-electro reactor for treatment of various kinds of polluted water was investigated experimentally. Aqueous solution of nitrate, ammonium and/or organic matter were used as synthetic polluted water. Denitrification of the nitrate polluted water without organic matter proceeded effectively by utilizing hydrogen gas produced by electrolysis of water in the reactor. The bio-electro reactor was also available for the treatment of nitrate polluted water containing organic matter when the C/N concentration ratio was up to 1.0 under the condition of 100 mA of applied electric current. The nitrate removal efficiency from nitrate polluted water containing acetate at C/N=1.0 was more than 90% at 5 hours of HRT and 80% even at 2.8 h HRT. For the treatment of ammonium polluted water, nitrification and denitrification proceeded simultaneously in a bio-electro reactor where nitrifying and denitrifying microorganisms were immobilized on the electrodes. The results obtained in this study suggested that the bio-electro reactor system was capable to application for oxidation and reduction treatments of the nitrate and ammonium polluted water.


<em>Abstract.</em>—The main channel of the Hudson River is a tidal estuary from its mouth in New York Harbor to Troy, New York, 247 km upstream. It drains about 35,000 km<sup>2</sup> and is an important navigational, commercial, and recreational system. Since the arrival of European settlers over 400 years ago, it has undergone numerous environmental changes. These changes have included channel maintenance by dredging, wholesale dumping of industrial and domestic wastes, scattered in-basin urbanization and shoreline development, deforestation of the watershed and an increase in agriculture, and water removal for commercial, industrial, and agricultural needs. In addition, the biota of the river has supported commercial and recreational harvesting, exotic species have become established, and habitats have become fragmented, replaced, changed in extent, or isolated. The tidal portion of the Hudson River is among the most-studied water bodies on Earth. We use data from surveys conducted in 1936, the 1970s, the 1980s, and the 1990s to examine changes in fish assemblages and from other sources dating back to 1842. The surveys are synoptic but use a variety of gears and techniques and were conducted by different researchers with different study goals. The scale of our assessment is necessarily coarse. Over 200 species of fish are reported from the drainage, including freshwater and diadromous species, estuarine forms, certain life history stages of primarily marine species, and marine strays. The tidal Hudson River fish assemblages have responded to the environmental changes of the last century in several ways. Several important native species appear to be in decline (e.g., rainbow smelt <em>Osmerus mordax </em>and Atlantic tomcod <em>Microgadus tomcod</em>), others, once in decline, have rebounded (e.g., striped bass <em>Morone saxatilis</em>), and populations of some species seem stable (e.g., spottail shiner <em>Notropis hudsonius</em>). No native species is extirpated from the system, and only one, shortnose sturgeon <em>Acipenser brevirostrum</em>, is listed as endangered. The recent establishment of the exotic zebra mussel <em>Dreissena polymorpha </em>may be shifting the fish assemblage away from openwater fishes (e.g., <em>Alosa</em>) and toward species associated with vegetation (e.g., centrarchids). In general, the Hudson River has seen an increase in the number and importance of alien species and a change in dominant species.


Check List ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 940 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Fernandes Rodrigues Alves ◽  
Samara De Paiva Barros-Alves ◽  
Valter José Cobo ◽  
Daniel José Marcondes Lima ◽  
Adilson Fransozo

Biodiversity can be useful as an ecosystem indicator for conservation and monitoring, through continuous assessment of its main properties including stability, primary productivity, exploitation tolerance and even global environmental changes. The main purpose of this study was to provide a checklist of the crabs associated with subtidal rocky bottoms at the Vitoria Archipelago, southeastern Brazilian coast. Monthly collections were carried out from February 2004 through January 2006 on three islands at the Vitória Archipelago (23°44’S-45°01’W). The crabs were hand-caught by SCUBA divers during the daytime, in rock subtidal. A total of 3084 individuals were caught, belonging to 42 species, 28 genera, and 12 families, highlighting Mithraculus forceps (1528) and Stenorhynchus seticornis (407) representing more than 60% of the sample. On the other hand, Dromia erythropus, Moreiradromia antilensis, Ebalia stimpsoni, Garthiope spinipes and Tumidotheres maculatus had only one individual sampled.


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