Dissolved inorganic nutrients and organic substrates in the River Warnow (North-Eastern Germany) – Utilisation by bacterioplankton

Abstract

After 1990, external loads of Central European rivers with inorganic nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and organic material were reduced because of changed environmental laws. However, in the eutrophic lowland River Warnow, North-Eastern Germany, nitrate concentrations remained high with 35–185 μmol l −1 without a significant decrease since 1992. In contrast, phosphate concentrations, varying between 0.3 and 5.2 μmol l −1 during the growth season 2002, decreased significantly over the years. However, its concentrations still exceeded 1 μmol l −1 regularly in the growth seasons. This load led to a substantial accumulation of organic matter additional to high terrestrial inputs. Despite the high organic load, the remineralising bacteria were mainly inactive in River Warnow. Therefore, the composition of the dissolved organic material, especially its bioavailability, were investigated during the growth season 2002 and discussed with other potential controlling factors. River Warnow carried a high load of dissolved organic carbon (14 mg l −1), especially of humic substances (5.5 mg C l −1). Bacterial abundance (12×10 6 ml −1) as well as production (1.7 μg C l −1 h −1) depended on temperature. During late spring and summer at constantly higher temperatures, bacterial production correlated positively to readily utilisable substrates and to humic compounds. Thus, the bacterial community in River Warnow may be well adapted or contain enough species using the available amino acids and carbohydrates as well as humic matter compounds. However, calculated from protozoan biomass, grazing may control bacterial biomass and perhaps community composition profoundly, what lead to the low percentages of active bacteria.