Amphora

Cymbella
Primary Productivity of lakes and rivers

1.) Of phytoplankton (bottles in situ)

•Dark and light bottle O2 method

•14C uptake method

2.) Of whole water columns (no container)

Diurnal O2 method

3.) Vertical distribution of primary productivity

Primary productivity /unit area

PHYTOPLANKTON PRODUCTIVITY

•Productivity is the rate of biomass formation

•Primary productivity (photosynthesis) of phytoplankton

can be measured directly by O2 production

•Photosynthesis can be summarized as

6CO2 + 12 H20 ----> C6H12O6 + 6O2 + 6H2O

•Respiration is the reverse reaction

The two most common techniques are:

• the light-dark bottles technique for O2 production

•14C uptake measurements of CO2 assimilation

 Afternoon Nightime
mg/L O2 mg/L O2
2 4 6 8 10 2 4 6 8 10

5 5
Depth Depth
m m

10 10

Average [O2] Average [O2]

Epilimnion = Epilimnion =
9.8 mg/L 6.9 mg/L
Van Dorn sampler obtains samples of water from a desired depth
A Yellow Springs Instrument DO meter being calibrated
Changes in Dissolved Oxygen

•Water samples from various depths are enclosed in light

(transparent) and dark (completely opaque) bottles,

•For each depth initial readings of dissolved O2 are taken (IB) and
the light (LB) and dark (DB) samples are incubated for a period
long enough to produce measurable changes in O2.

•During the incubation, we expect that the initial DO concentration

(IB) at a given depth will decrease to a lower concentration in the
dark bottles (DB) due to respiration of phytoplankton.

•Conversely, we expect light bottle (LB) should increase from their

initial values (IB).
IB − DB
= respiration rate/unit volume
∆t

LB − IB
= net photosynthetic rate/unit volume
∆t

LB − DB
= gross photosynthetic rate/unit volume
∆t
Productivity measurements are usually expressed in terms of
carbon not oxygen

Therefore we need to convert the changes in oxygen

concentration to corresponding changes in carbon.

For this we use the photosynthetic quotient (PQ)

and the respiratory quotient (RQ), which are ratios describing
the relative amounts of oxygen and carbon involved in
photosynthesis and respiration.
:
PQ = (molecules of oxygen liberated during photosynthesis) /
(molecules of CO2 assimilated)= usually around 1.2

RQ = (molecules of CO2 liberated during respiration) /

(molecules of oxygen consumed) = usually very close to 1.0
Calculations
•Gross photosynthesis = [(LB - DB) * 1000 * 0.375] / (PQ *∆ t)
•Net photosynthesis = [(LB - IB) * 1000 * 0.375] / (PQ * ∆ t)
•Respiration = [(IB - DB) * RQ * 1000 * 0.375] / ∆ t
•Gross and net photosynthesis and respiration are expressed
as mg C/m3/h
•LB, DB, and IB are dissolved oxygen concentrations in mg/L
•

∆ t is the incubation period in hours

•1000 converts L to m3 (1 L = 1000 cm3)
•0.375 converts mass of oxygen to mass of carbon and is a
ratio of moles of carbon to moles of oxygen (12 mg C/32 mg
O2 = 0.375)
14C Uptake
•In situ rates of primary production can be measured directly using 14C
because phytoplankton will take up and incorporate this isotopes into
organic matter during photosynthesis.
•When the total CO2 content of water is known and the 14C content of
phytoplankton is measured after an incubation period, the total amount of
carbon assimilated can be estimated from:
•[14C available / 14C assimilated] = (12C available / 12C assimilated)
•The procedure consists of adding a known amount of radioactive
bicarbonate, H14CO3-, to samples with a known total DIC content
•After a suitable incubation period, the algae are millipore filtered onto a
membrane (0.45 um pore size), and the samples counted on a scintillation
counter.
•The fraction of the total radiocarbon taken up, is assumed to reflect the
fraction of total DIC taken up over the incubation period.
•The values obtained are estimates of the rate of primary production in mg
C/sample volume/time.
In the following calculations, 14C was added to light (LB) and dark (DB)
bottles which were incubated in the field at sample depths for a specified
period of time.

Primary Production = 12C assimilated (mg C/m3/time)

= [14C assimilated / 14C available] x DIC x [1 / incubation period]

14Cassimilated = [(LB filter counts per min x k1) - (DB cpm x k1)] x 1.06
where k1 is a volume correction factor

Isotopic factor = 1.06, accounts for the fact that 14C has slightly greater
mass than 12C and is incorporated 6% more slowly than 12C

k1 = (volume of sample) / volume filtered from incubation bottle

NOTE: The dark bottle incubation was conducted to provide data on

background counts due to dark fixation, absorption, or cosmic radiation.

14Cavailable = (µCi 14C added/mL) x (3.7 x 104 disintegrations per

second) / scintillation counter efficiency factor

DIC = Dissolved inorganic carbon, mg/L

incubation period = time between addition of 14C and filtration
Consider the following example

You add 1m of 14C solution to a 500 ml sample of lakewater containing 50 mg/L of DIC

The 14C solution contains 3.86 µCi/mL (3.7 x 104 counts per sec / µCi)

You filter 50 ml of the sample after a 3 hr incubation

You record 5 x 105 counts per min from the filter

You do the same thing to your dark bottle sample and obtain 4 x 104 counts per min.

What is the primary productivity in mgC/m3/hr obtained from this sample.

Scintillation counter efficiency correction 1.3089. This is an adjustment for the fact that
the counter can count more efficiently when no sample (i.e. organic matter) is present.
Material released from the sample will absorb (“quench”) some of the counts.

Do you think this estimate refers to gross or net photosynthesis?

 Because we are using bottles incubated at various depths in the photic zone to
measure primary productivity in situ, and the measurements vary with depth,
we need to obtain a profile of primary productivity with depth.

% of surface irradiance Primary productivity

(mgC/m3/d)

Depth (z)

Let us say that we wish to incubate samples at the 75% , 50%, 25%, 10% and 1%
light levels. How do we decide at what depths to incubate samples at?
We need to know the extinction coeficient (k) for the water column we
are working with. If we only know the Secchi disk depth we can
estimate k as 1.7/Secchi depth (m)
Section 10.6
Iz
= e − kz
Iz I0
to find the depth of the 75% light level
z 50% set
Photic
zone 0.75 = e − kz
z 10% then take ln of both sides
ln 0.75 = -kz
− ln 0.75 0.288
z 1% z= =
k k
z
A 20 cm Secchi disk
 z=-ln/k
%light ln(%light/100) (k=0.57)

0.75 -0.28768207 0.504705

0.5 -0.69314718 1.216048

0.25 -1.38629436 2.432095

0.1 -2.30258509 4.039623

0.01 -4.60517019 8.079246

For a lake with Secchi disk transparency k=0.57 (1.7/3)

.
Chapters we have done parts of so far in the course

Chapter 1—Introduction
Chapter 2—Development of Limnology
Chapter 4—Water resources
Chapter5—Hydrology and Climate
Chapter6—Origin of Lakes
Chapter7—Lake and Catchment Morphometry
Chapter 9—Aquatic Systems and their Catchments
Chapter 10—Light
Chapter 11—Temperature and Stratification
Chapter 12—Water movements
Chapter 15—Dissolved oxygen
Chapter21—The Phytoplankton
Outline the role of wind and wave action, light, and lake basin
shape in determining the boundaries of the littoral zone, the
thermocline, photic zone depth and the boundaries of the
depositional zone.

What are the factors that determine the apparent colour of a

lake. How would the colour of water be an important
environmental factor for photosynthetic organisms?

Diatoms by virtue of their siliceous cell walls have higher

specific gravities than other small algae and have virtually no
ability to control their position in the water column. What are
the consequences of this as regard to the types of habitat
they live in, their seasonal dynamics, and their responses to
the thermal regime.
Humans have a long-standing love-hate relationship with the
Cyanobacteria. Give one example outlining each side of this
coin—that is of how useful they can be to us, and how
problematical they can be.

Large colonial Cyanobacteria often bloom during the late

summer in lakes. Describe some factors that contribute to
this general pattern.
(A) With reference to the hydrological balance equation explain why most
streams on the landscape flow continuously (albeit with huge variance) despite
the episodic nature of precipitation. Contrast this with the situation you might
expect in a storm sewer—a man-made drainage system designed to conduct
storm runoff—which has high discharge for a few hours after a storm and then
dries up completely.

Two key features of stream and river flow are extreme temporal variability, and the
tendency to meander. Explain how these creates habitat diversity for aquatic
organisms, through its effects on channel morphology, sediment deposition,
erosion, and the flood plain.

Define and explain the importance of primary productivity? Outline some

general features of primary producer communities in lakes and streams, and
the approaches used to measure primary productivity in these habitats.

Outline the general pattern of seasonal succession in lake phytoplankton, and

explain it with reference to seasonal changes in lake temperature and
stratification, nutrient availability, and herbivorous zooplankton. (200 words)