The influences of eutrophication for the carbon and nitrogen sources for aquatic consumer communities—A case study in Lake Baiyangdian

Abstract

富营养化对湖泊生态系统能流和物流的影响具有不确定性，多数研究仅关注富营养化对浅水湖泊食物网结构和功能的影响，而富营养化对消费者群落碳源和氮源的影响及其时空分异特征较少关注.鉴于此，本研究选取华北平原最大的浅水富营养化湖泊——白洋淀为研究区，依据生境理化参数将白洋淀划分为3类生境（生境1（Ⅰ和Ⅱ区）主要遭受上游府河废水排放影响；生境2（Ⅴ、Ⅶ和Ⅷ区）主要遭受水产养殖和生活污水的影响；生境3（Ⅲ、Ⅳ和Ⅵ区）遭受人为干扰较小）.在2018年4月和8月分别收集了浮游生物、底栖生物和鱼类样品，运用碳、氮稳定同位素技术定量估算3类生境中底栖和浮游生物对消费者群落碳源和氮源贡献百分比的时空分异特征；同时收集水体和沉积物样品进行常规理化参数分析，明晰富营养化对白洋淀消费者群落碳源和氮源贡献百分比的影响.结果表明：1）就水体和沉积物理化参数季节变化而言，除pH相对稳定外，化学需氧量（COD）、沉积物氨氮（NH₃-Ns）、总氮（TN）和沉积物总磷（TPs）4月高于8月，而其他理化参数则8月高于4月；就空间分布而言，温度（T）、水深（WD）、溶解氧（DO）和沉积物总碳（TCs）值在生境3中最高，而其他理化参数的值则在生境1中最高；2）就δ¹³C和δ¹⁵N空间分布而言，对于同一群落，δ¹³C和δ¹⁵N在3类生境中富集程度呈现显著差异；就时间分布而言，不同季节消费者群落的δ¹³C值存在显著差异，而δ¹⁵N值未呈现显著差异，且消费者群落的δ¹³C和δ¹⁵N呈显著负相关；3）就消费者营养级的空间分布而言，3类生境存在显著差异，同一消费者营养级在生境1中最高，在生境3中最低；就时间分布而言，消费者营养级未呈现显著差异；4）浮游生物对消费者群落碳源和氮源贡献百分比4月高于8月，生境1高于其他生境；而底栖生物对消费者群落碳源和氮源贡献百分比则8月高于4月，生境3高于其他生境；5）通过相关分析，结果表明白洋淀消费者群落的δ¹³C与总磷（TP）、TCs、沉积物总氮（TNs）、总有机碳（TOCs）、TPs呈现负相关关系；δ¹⁵N值与TP、TCs、TNs、TOCs、TPs呈正相关关系.因此，湖泊富营养化会影响消费者群落的碳源和氮源，进而改变湖泊生态系统的能流和物流.;The effects of eutrophication on the energy flow and material flow for lake ecosystems need to be studied. Most of previous studies showed the impacts of eutrophication on the structure and function of lake food web, while the influences of eutrophication on the nitrogen and carbon sources for consumer communities were limited. In view of this, the largest shallow eutrophic lake in North China Plain—Lake Baiyangdian was selected as the study area. According to the physical-chemical parameters in water and sediment, the Lake Baiyangdian was subdivided into three habitats(Habitat 1 strongly influenced by wastewater discharge(Sites Ⅰ and Ⅱ), Habitat 2 influenced by aquaculture and densely populated villages(Sites Ⅴ, Ⅶ and Ⅷ), and Habitat 3 influenced the least by human disturbances (Sites Ⅲ, Ⅳ and Ⅵ)). In April and August 2018, the samples for pelagic organisms, benthic organisms and fish were collected, respectively. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope techniques were used to quantitatively calculate the contribution percentage of benthic and pelagic organism for the carbon and nitrogen sources of consumer communities. The results showed that: 1) according to the seasonal variation of water and sediment parameters, except pH, the values of chemical oxygen demand (COD), Ammonia nitrogen in sediments (NH₃-Ns), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus in sediment (TPs) in April were higher than that in August, while the other parameters were existed higher values in August; in terms of spatial distribution, temperature (T), water depth (WD), dissolved oxygen (DO), total carbon in sediments (TCs) were showed the highest values in Habitat 3, while the other parameters were showed the highest values in Habitat 1; 2) According to the spatial distribution of δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N, for the same populations, the degree of enrichment were appeared significantly different at three habitats; while for the seasonal variation, the values of δ¹³C for the consumer communities showed significant difference, while the values of δ¹⁵N without significant difference; furthermore, the δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N of the consumer communities were existed the negatively correlated; 3) According to the spatial distribution of consumer trophic level (TL), the TL was appeared significantly different at three habitats; for the same consumer community, the highest values were appeared in Habitat 1, while the lowest values were appeared in Habitat 3; in terms of the temporal variation, the TL was not existed the significantly difference; 4) For the pelagic organisms, the contribution percentage for the carbon and nitrogen sources of consumer communities were appeared higher values in April, and the highest values were existed in Habitat 1; while for the benthic organisms, the contribution percentage for the carbon and nitrogen sources of consumer communities were appeared higher values in August, and the highest values were existed in Habitat 3; 5) Through correlation analysis, the results showed that the δ¹³C of consumer communities were appeared the negatively correlated with TP, TCs, TN in sediment (TNs), total organic carbon in sediment (TOCs), TPs; while the δ¹⁵N were existed the positive correlation with TP, TCs, TNs, TOCs, TPs. Therefore, the eutrophication can influence the carbon and nitrogen sources for consumer communities, and change the energy flow and material flow for the lake ecosystem.