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Fresh terrestrial detritus fuels both heterotrophic and autotrophic activities in the planktonic food web of a tropical reservoir: a mesocosm study

  • ECOLOGY OF SHALLOW LAKES
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Abstract

Inland aquatic ecosystems play an important role in the global carbon cycle as they actively mineralize large amounts of terrestrial organic matter. However, there is not much evidence that this allochthonous organic matter affects the energy and matter flow through trophic chain via the microbial food web in tropical reservoirs. We hypothesize that the fresh terrestrial dissolved organic matter (DOM) input in aquatic ecosystems increases net heterotrophy via microbes. A field experiment was conducted in mesocosms, with two treatments: one received detritus input of freshly sampled terrestrial vegetation and the other treatment had no additions (control). The detritus input resulted in increased net heterotrophy and respiration rates after 2 days and increased primary production after 21 days. Moreover, it also changed the zooplankton community to the dominance of copepods, cyclopoids and rotifers, which could have stabilized bacterial abundance and increased bacterial respiration (BR). Our results suggest that fresh terrestrial organic matter input in aquatic systems experiencing wide water level fluctuations (e.g. due to changes in climatic patterns) affect metabolism through two main pathways: (i) initially increasing net heterotrophy via direct DOM bacterial mineralization and planktonic respiration, (ii) later stimulating primary production and net autotrophy due to the nutrients mineralization.

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The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Rodrigo Carvalho and Leonardo Versieux for sampling and identification of the plant species used as detritus. The authors thank to MSc. Bruna Vargas for language review and to Dr. Vinicius Farjalla, Dr. Adriano Caliman and Dr. José Reinaldo Paranaíba for comments on the manuscript.

Funding

This work was founded by Foundation for Science (IFS) for financial support (Proc. # AA20514) and CAPES for C.G. Moura and L.M. Fonseca Scholarships. A. M. Amado and F. Roland were supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development – CNPq (Research Productivity Scholarship A.M.A Process # 310033/2017-9 and # 312772/2020-3; F.R. Process # 311.892/2017-5).

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  1. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte – UFRN, Via Costeira, S/N, Praia da Mãe Luiza, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, 59014-100, Brazil

    Caroline Gabriela Bezerra de Moura, Elinez Rocha, José Luíz de Attayde & André Megali Amado

  2. Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte – UFRN, Juiz de Fora, Brazil

    José Luíz de Attayde

  3. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Vegetal, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ, Juiz de Fora, Brazil

    Natália Noyma

  4. Laboratório de Ciências Ambientais, Centro de Biociências e Biotecnologia, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense – UENF, Juiz de Fora, Brazil

    Luciana de Oliveira Vidal

  5. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade e Conservação da Natureza, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora – UFJF, Juiz de Fora, Brazil

    Layla Mayer Fonseca & André Megali Amado

  6. Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora – UFJF, Juiz de Fora, Brazil

    Fábio Roland & André Megali Amado

  7. Departamento de Oceanografia e Limnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte – UFRN, Juiz de Fora, Brazil

    André Megali Amado

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  1. Caroline Gabriela Bezerra de Moura
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de Moura, C.G.B., Rocha, E., de Attayde, J.L. et al. Fresh terrestrial detritus fuels both heterotrophic and autotrophic activities in the planktonic food web of a tropical reservoir: a mesocosm study. Hydrobiologia 849, 3931–3946 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-021-04754-z

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