Current state of heterotrophic bacterioplankton in the Kosinskie Lakes

Abstract

From December 2009 to December 2010, the total abundance of bacteria, the abundance of bacteria with electron transport chain, the abundance of viable saprotrophic bacteria, and the concentration of chlorophyll a were studied in water samples from lakes Svyatoe, Beloe, and Chernoe in Kosino-Ukhtomskoe district, Moscow City. The abundance of bacteria with active electron transport chain (CTC+bacteria) and its seasonal variations in Kosinskie Lakes are studied for the first time. Those lakes were found to contain well-developed and actively functioning heterotrophic bacterioplankton, the abundance of which have increased considerably since the 1930s–1940s. The seasonal dynamics of bacterioplankton has also changed. The largest absolute abundance of CTC+bacteria in lakes Svyatoe and Beloe was recorded in summer and autumn (from August to November). The abundance peak of CTH+bacteria in Lake Svyatoe was recorded in September and that in Lake Beloe, in October. The abundance of CTC+bacteria also showed a peak in April. In Lake Chernoe, the abundance of CTC+bacteria was much less than in lakes Svyatoe and Beloe; its maximums were recorded in December 2009 and April 2010. The share of CTC+bacteria in the total abundance of bacteria was 2.4–19.2% in Lake Svyatoe, 1.8–63.0% in Lake Beloe, and 0.96–22.5% in Lake Chernoe. Significant correlations were found to exist in all three lakes between the abundance of active bacterioplankton fraction and chlorophyll a content of water.