Pigments In Surface Sediments Research Articles

Pigments in surface sediments of South American shallow lakes as an integrative proxy for primary producers and their drivers

Abstract Pigments in lake surface sediments integrate both benthic and pelagic primary producer composition at the whole‐lake ecosystem level. We gathered a comprehensive set of water chemistry, morphometric, physical and biological lake variables, catchment and climate characteristics, and geographical descriptors. We used multiple regressions to relate whole‐lake algal pigment concentration to environmental conditions and multivariate statistical analyses to assess the factors most associated with photoautotrophic algal and bacterial community composition. The relative influence of environmental factors and spatial distribution was assessed by variance partitioning analysis among three groups of variables: (1) in‐lake factors, (2) external factors, and (3) geographic descriptors. Pigment concentration and community composition were most sensitive to in‐lake factors. Pigment‐inferred abundance of algae, including cyanobacteria, tended to be highest in shallower systems with high nutrient concentrations, independent of the latitudinal temperature or irradiance gradients. Pigment‐inferred community composition was best explained by nutrients and biotic composition (zooplankton and fish communities). Only in maritime temperate lakes did a link with regional location occur due to their low dissolved inorganic nitrogen to soluble reactive phosphorus ratios (1.5 atomic ratio), suggesting nitrogen limitation of phytoplankton growth; accordingly, the sediment pigments revealed cyanobacteria to be the dominant group, although this may also be a consequence of the overall high nutrient levels in these lakes. Despite the large climate gradient covered, in‐lake rather than external factors were associated with the patterns observed in pigment concentration (from benthic and pelagic microorganisms) and inferred composition and abundance in these shallow lakes. Our results suggest that pigment assemblages in sediments, which integrate both benthic and pelagic microbial photoautotrophic community and processes, are valuable indicators of changes in shallow (0.75–12 m depth) lake ecosystems.

Photosynthetic pigments in surface sediments in the northwest of the Bohai Sea, China: Potential implications for sediment deposition of brown tides of Aureococcus anophagefferens in coastal waters

It is not clear whether brown tide, caused by pico-pelagophyte, can lead to significant settlement of organic matter and potentially induce environmental degradation, such as hypoxia. In this study, surface sediment pigment compositions were studied after the brown tide bloom in the northwestern Bohai Sea (NWBS), China, to confirm whether organic matter from the brown tide can deposited to sediment. Seventeen kinds of photosynthetic pigments were detected in the sediments, and chlorophyll a was the most dominant pigment. Fucoxanthin and β,β-carotene were the main carotenoids. Especially abundant 19′-Butanoyloxy-fucoxanthin (But-Fuco), the characteristic indicator of brown tide Aureococcus anophagefferens, was universally detected in the sediments, with the average proportion of But-Fuco among a total of 13 carotenoids reaching about 9.2%. The horizontal distribution of these dominant pigments followed similar patterns and high levels were observed in the middle of the study areas, while the higher ratio value of But-Fuco/Fuco appeared in A. anophagefferens bloom area. Significant correlations were found between Fuco and But-Fuco, Diato and But-Fuco, and Diadino and But-Fuco, while almost no correlations were observed between pigments and total organic carbon (TOC) or sediment grain size. The universal observation of But-Fuco and its high content in A. anophagefferens bloom areas confirmed that brown tide could induce additional abundant deposition of organic matter to sediment. Our results support the view that the contribution of pico-plankton to carbon export from the ocean surface cannot simply be ignored, and indicate the fundamental influence of brown tide on the sediment environment for the first time.

Phytoplankton Pigments in Maryland Coastal Bay Sediments as Biomarkers of Sources of Organic Matter to Benthic Community

ABSTRACT Chen, J.; Oseji, O.; Mitra, M.; Waguespack, Y., and Chen, N., 2016. Phytoplankton pigments in Maryland coastal bay sediments as biomarkers of sources of organic matter to benthic community. In this study, the sources of pelagic organic matter and their transport to the surface sediment in the Maryland Coastal Bays (MCB), part of the U.S. mid-Atlantic coastal lagoon system, were examined. Photosynthetic pigments (chlorophylls a and b), accessory pigments (peridinin, fucoxanthin, zeaxanthin, alloxanthin, etc.), and chlorophyll a decomposition products (chlorophyllide a, pheophorbide a, pheophytin a, and pyropheophytin a) from surface sediments collected at 13 sites in the MCB in March 2013 were analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography. The spatial distributions of diagnostic pigments in surface sediments indicated that organic matter was mainly derived from nano- and picophytoplankton (i.e. cyanobacteria, cryptophytes, and chlorophytes) at sites characterized by high nutrient input, al...

Burial and decomposition of plant pigments in surface sediments of the Baltic Sea: role of oxygen and benthic fauna

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 455:33-49 (2012) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09661 Burial and decomposition of plant pigments in surface sediments of the Baltic Sea: role of oxygen and benthic fauna Alf B. Josefson1, Joanna Norkko2,3,4, Alf Norkko2,4,5 1Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark 2Marine Research Centre, Finnish Environment Institute, PO Box 140, 00251 Helsinki, Finland 3Environmental and Marine Biology, Department of Biosciences, Åbo Akademi University, Artillerigatan 6, 20520 Åbo, Finland 4Tvärminne Zoological Station, University of Helsinki, 10900 Hanko, Finland 5Department of Marine Ecology-Kristineberg, University of Gothenburg, 45034 Fiskebäckskil, Sweden *Email: aj@dmu.dk ABSTRACT: Degradation and burial of organic matter in sediments are important processes for oxygen dynamics and thus for the outcome of eutrophication. To assess the influences of bottom-water oxygen and macroinvertebrate fauna function on these processes, we investigated distributions of phytopigments as markers of phytoplankton detritus in surface sediments across the Baltic Sea. We compared pigment concentrations among sites with different oxygen levels and different values of a bioturbation potential index combining abundance, individual size and species-specific rankings of mobility and sediment reworking (BPI). BPI was positively influenced by oxygen availability, with a threshold at 45 to 90 µmol l–1, below which it decreased rapidly to zero in anoxic sediments. There was significant co-variation between pigments and both oxygen and BPI after accounting for differences in pigment concentrations with sediment depth and among different sub-areas, which were largely attributed to different inputs of phytoplankton. Negative correlations between pigments and both BPI and oxygen in communities dominated by Macoma balthica and Scoloplos armiger, and between pigments and BPI in the upper sediment layers inhabited by Monoporeia affinis and Pontoporeia femorata, suggested increased degradation with increasing bioturbation. Positive correlations between pigments and BPI in communities dominated by Marenzelleria spp. suggested mainly burial, which also was supported by positive correlations between Marenzelleria abundance and both sediment water content and the freshness of buried organic material. It is hypothesised that a shift from sensitive resident species like Monoporeia or Scoloplos to the more hypoxia-tolerant Marenzelleria will slow down overall degradation rates, counteracting hypoxia formation in the bottom water. KEY WORDS: Baltic Sea · Bioturbation · Plant pigments · Oxygen · Burial Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Josefson AB, Norkko J, Norkko A (2012) Burial and decomposition of plant pigments in surface sediments of the Baltic Sea: role of oxygen and benthic fauna. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 455:33-49. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09661 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 455. Online publication date: May 30, 2012 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2012 Inter-Research.

Dynamics of phytoplankton pigments in water and surface sediments of a large shallow lake

Our aim was to find out to which extent fossil phytoplankton pigments in the large shallow and turbid Lake Vortsjarv carry information on the history of phytoplankton communities. For this purpose we examined how the changes in the pigment composition of surface sediments follow their changes in the water column. Depth-integrated lake water and surface sediment samples were collected weekly in May-October 2007. Considering cyanobacterial and diatom dominance in phytoplankton, we analysed fucoxanthin, diadinoxanthin and diatoxanthin as marker pigments for diatoms, zeaxanthin as a marker pigment for total cyanobacteria and canthaxanthin as a marker pigment for colonial cyanobacteria. Chlorophyll a and its derivative pheophytin a were applied as indicators for total phytoplankton. The dynamics of phytoplankton pigments in surface sediments generally did not follow their dynamics in the water column, possibly due to intensive resuspension and a high sedimentation rate in a large and shallow lake. It was noticed that the surface sediment carries information on pigment degradation intensity and on weight and size characteristics of phytoplankton cells, which affect their sinking and floating velocities. Higher pigment contents of sediment in spring were presumably caused by lower resuspension due to high water level and slower degradation in cold water. Pheophytin a and the marker pigments of cyanobacteria were found to be persistent against degradation in upper sediment layers, which makes them useful indicators for tracking the historical changes in phytoplankton communities also in a shallow lake. Sharp decrease in chemically unstable pigment contents between the sediment surface and deeper layers indicates that only the uppermost sediment surface is resuspended in Lake Vortsjarv. The transformation of the diatom marker carotenoid diadinoxanthin to diatoxanthin was found to occur mainly in sediments and not in the water column, and the process is not induced by excess light.

Fossil pigments in surface sediments of some Estonian lakes

Fossil pigments in surface sediments of some Estonian lakes

Spatial variability of stable isotopes and fossil pigments in surface sediments of Alaskan coastal lakes: Constraints on quantitative estimates of past salmon abundance

We quantified spatial patterns of stable isotopes of N and C (δ15N, δ13C) and fossil pigment concentrations in the uppermost 10 mm of sediment (,10 yr) from 74 profundal locations and three spawning‐stream discharge areas in Lake Nerka, southwest Alaska. Sediment δ15N (4.3% ± 0.7%) and δ13C (−26.3% ± 1.2%) varied directly (δ15N) or inversely (δ13C) with water column depth, whereas concentrations of most fossil pigments from algae were negatively correlated with depth. Sediment δ15N and δ13C were poorly correlated with either fossil pigment abundance or the local densities of spawning salmon. Instead, coastal nursery lakes appeared to integrate marine‐derived nutrients rapidly into lakewide nutrient pools, suggesting that while individual cores may be used to reconstruct whole‐lake salmon densities, habitat‐specific variations of past fish populations cannot be quantified reliably from sedimentary analyses.

Organic matter and pigments in surface sediments: possible mechanisms of their horizontal distributions in a stratified lake

The analysis of spatial changes of organic matter and pigments (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, bacteriochlorophyll e, and phaeophytin a) in the uppermost bottom sediments was used to distinguish between sources of settled material in Lake Kinneret (Israel) during thermal stratification. The proportion of phytobenthic chlorophyll a decreased relatively to total chlorophyll a down to zero at 17 m. Bacteriochlorophyll e, derived from Chlorobium phaeobacteroides, was the most abundant pigment below the thermocline. Organic matter content in the sand-free sediment fraction and chlorophyll a to organic matter ratio were the lowest in the bottom area most extensively affected by shoaling internal seiches and where resuspension occurred. The proportion of resuspended matter sharply decreased with bottom depth in the hypolimnion. The importance of degraded materials of planktonic origin apparently increased towards the lake center. These distribution patterns could be achieved by dispersion of the rapidly sinking resuspended particles with fast metalimnetic jets and by focusing of the lighter planktonic particles by water motions in the turbulent benthic boundary layer. Our study showed that analysis of distribution of freshly settled organic components on the bottom may be a useful tool for understanding particle transport mechanisms in lakes.

Organic matter and pigments in surface sediments: possible mechanisms of their horizontal distributions in a stratified lake

Organic matter and pigments in surface sediments: possible mechanisms of their horizontal distributions in a stratified lake

Annual in situ carbon dioxide and oxygen flux across a subtidal marine sediment

Dissolved carbon dioxide release (445 l CO2 m−2 year−1) measured with chambers placed in situ over subtidal sediments at Eastern Passage, N.S. exceeded oxygen uptake by 2·5 times. Patterns of seasonal changes in flux were similar for both gases with maximum rates at times of highest temperature between May and July. Estimates of algal pigments in surface sediments were not correlated with seasonal changes in gas flux. If concentrations of organic carbon in surface sediment layers vary around steady-state levels, and if mineralization of organic carbon decreases exponentially over time, the ratio of carbon dioxide loss to average concentrations of organic carbon in the upper 1 cm of sediment implies that decomposition is 95% complete in less than 2 years. If carbon dioxide is derived from the upper 10-cm sediment layer, estimates of turnover time increase to 15 years.