Working Paper Article Version 1 This version is not peer-reviewed

Spatiotemporal Variations in Seston C: N: P Stoichiometry in a Large Eutrophic Floodplain Lake (Lake Taihu): Do the Sources of Seston Explain Stoichiometric Flexibility?

Version 1 : Received: 17 November 2019 / Approved: 18 November 2019 / Online: 18 November 2019 (04:31:03 CET)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Cai, J.; Bai, C.; Tang, X.; Dai, J.; Jiang, X.; Hu, Y.; Shao, K.; Gao, G. Spatiotemporal Variations in Seston C:N:P Stoichiometry in a Large Eutrophic Floodplain Lake (Lake Taihu): Do the Sources of Seston Explain Stoichiometric Flexibility? Water 2020, 12, 36. Cai, J.; Bai, C.; Tang, X.; Dai, J.; Jiang, X.; Hu, Y.; Shao, K.; Gao, G. Spatiotemporal Variations in Seston C:N:P Stoichiometry in a Large Eutrophic Floodplain Lake (Lake Taihu): Do the Sources of Seston Explain Stoichiometric Flexibility? Water 2020, 12, 36.

Abstract

Although sources of seston are much more complicated in lakes compared to marines, the influences of different source on the spatiotemporal variations in seston stoichiometry are still underexplored, especially in large eutrophic floodplain lakes. Here, we investigated the seston stoichiometry across a typical large eutrophic floodplain lake (Lake Taihu) over one year. In addition, we used the n-alkanes proxies for source estimation which are more robust than other elemental indicators (e.g. C: N ratios). Throughout the study, the average value of C: N: P ratio of 143: 19: 1 across Lake Taihu was higher than the classical Redfield ratio, but closed to the synthesized data from other lakes. Generally, seston C: N ratios varied the least across all environments, but C: P and N: P ratios varied widely and shown a significant seasonal pattern with lower ratios of N: P and C: P during senescence seasons and higher ratios in the growing seasons. This seasonal change was mainly associated with the shift from terrestrial-derived seston to algal-derived seston as, the significant lower ratios of terrestrial-derived seston from surrounding agricultural watershed. Spatially, the mean ratios of each site were similar, except relative high values of C: P and N: P ratios in the algal dominated area. Statistically, the predictive power of environmental variables was strongly improved by adding n-alkanes proxies. However, apart from sources indicators, particulate phosphorus (PP) contents also partly explained the spatiotemporal variations in stoichiometric ratios. Nevertheless, the mechanisms behind the dynamics of PP could be totally different and source-specific. This study highlights the priority of using n-alkanes proxies as tools to identify the source of seston which is essential to interpret the spatiotemporal variations in seston stoichiometric ratios among eutrophic floodplain lakes.

Keywords

seston stoichiometry; source estimation; n-alkanes proxies; large eutrophic floodplain lakes; Lake Taihu

Subject

Environmental and Earth Sciences, Environmental Science

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