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Published on: November 12, 2021
Coupling nutrient limitation and light availability: Key pathways regulating phytoplankton primary productivity in
Shun Chen1, Zhaoshi Wu2, Yaling Su2
1State Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 211135, China; Department of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Hebei University of Architecture, Zhangjiakou 075000, China.
None:
Analyzing the distribution of phytoplankton primary productivity (PP) and its influencing factors is a foundation for evaluating the ecosystem services of lakes, yet the regulatory mechanisms of PP across urban lakes with different trophic statuses remain unclear. In this study, we constructed a vertical generalized productivity model to analyze the spatiotemporal distribution of phytoplankton PP, further revealed the underlying regulatory mechanisms influencing these patterns, and clarified the disparities induced by trophic status. Our results indicated that phytoplankton PP in eutrophic urban lakes had significantly higher values than mesotrophic ones in all seasons except summer. Phytoplankton PP in mesotrophic lakes was regulated by a more diverse set of factors than in eutrophic lakes, with total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) exerting a stronger effect, cumulatively explaining 70.99 % of the variance in PP. In eutrophic lakes, the combined explanatory power of nutrients (TN and TP) for phytoplankton PP decreased to 35.83 %. In contrast, underwater light conditions (Secchi depth, suspended solids, and turbidity) accounted for 34.87 % of the variance in PP (28.31 % increase compared to mesotrophic lakes). Compared with eutrophic lakes, mesotrophic lakes presented more indirect pathways for phytoplankton PP (two paths), with physical factors predominantly influencing phytoplankton PP indirectly. This study fills a gap in the research on phytoplankton PP in urban lakes and provides a theoretical basis for PP and carbon sink assessment studies in small water bodies.
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