Abstract
Direct measurements of gross primary productivity (GPP) in the water column are essential, but can be spatially and temporally restrictive. Fast repetition rate fluorometry (FRRf) is a bio-optical technique based on chlorophyll a (Chl-a) fluorescence that can estimate the electron transport rate (ETRPSII) at photosystem II (PSII) of phytoplankton in real time. However, the derivation of phytoplankton GPP in carbon units from ETRPSII remains challenging because the electron requirement for carbon fixation (Фe,C), which is mechanistically 4 mol e- mol C-1 or above, can vary depending on multiple factors. In addition, FRRf studies are limited in freshwater lakes where phosphorus limitation and cyanobacterial blooms are common. The goal of the present study is to construct a robust Фe,C model for freshwater ecosystems using simultaneous measurements of ETRPSII by FRRf with multi-excitation wavelengths coupled with a traditional carbon fixation rate by the 13C method. The study was conducted in oligotrophic and mesotrophic parts of Lake Biwa from July 2018 to May 2019. The combination of excitation light at 444, 512 and 633 nm correctly estimated ETRPSII of cyanobacteria. The apparent range of Фe,C in the phytoplankton community was 1.1-31.0 mol e- mol C-1 during the study period. A generalised linear model showed that the best fit including 12 physicochemical and biological factors explained 67% of the variance in Фe,C. Among all factors, water temperature was the most significant, while photosynthetically active radiation intensity was not. This study quantifies the in situ FRRf method in a freshwater ecosystem, discusses core issues in the methodology to calculate Фe,C, and assesses the applicability of the method for lake GPP prediction.
Highlights
Phytoplankton are the most important primary producers in the aquatic food web [1]
The goal of the present study is to construct a robust Фe,C model for freshwater ecosystems using simultaneous measurements of electron transport rate in PSII (ETRPSII) by Fast repetition rate fluorometry (FRRf) with multi-excitation wavelengths coupled with a traditional carbon fixation rate by the 13C method
Vertical profiles of the minimum photosystem II (PSII) fluorescence yield (Fo) showed variability among four combinations of excitation wavelengths during cyanobacterial blooms (Fig 2B), but not for communities dominated by diatoms and zygnematophytes (Fig 2E and 2H)
Summary
Phytoplankton are the most important primary producers in the aquatic food web [1]. Changes in phytoplankton primary productivity can affect the food chain length [2, 3], material cycles [4, 5] and biomass of higher trophic organisms [6,7,8]. Phytoplankton community productivity is affected by various environmental factors and must rapidly respond to them [9,10,11] due to high growth rates and short generation times [12]. To evaluate the effect of variability in environmental factors on aquatic communities and ecosystems, continuous observation of phytoplankton primary productivity is necessary [4, 7, 13]. Fast repetition rate fluorometry (FRRf; Table 1), a chlorophyll a fluorescence-based method, has been developed as an advanced bio-optical technique for real-time measurement of phytoplankton primary productivity, mainly in marine ecosystems [19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27]. The FRRf method enables the induction and measurement of a range of chlorophyll a fluorescence yields and parameters specific to photosystem II (PSII) [19, 20, 28], and, in turn, enables estimation of the in vivo electron transport rate in PSII (ETRPSII) and gross primary productivity (GPP) by theoretical models of photosynthesis [19, 28, 29]
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