Jiahao Wen, Sarah C. P. Chan, Zachary T. Aanderud, Jill S. Baron, Sudeep Chandra, James J. Elser, DeTiare L. Leifi, Erin Suenaga, Bonnie G. Waring, Janice Brahney
{"title":"Experimental evidence of dust‐driven shifts in production, chlorophyll a, and community composition in mountain lakes","authors":"Jiahao Wen, Sarah C. P. Chan, Zachary T. Aanderud, Jill S. Baron, Sudeep Chandra, James J. Elser, DeTiare L. Leifi, Erin Suenaga, Bonnie G. Waring, Janice Brahney","doi":"10.1002/lno.70061","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Drought and human land use have increased dust emissions in the western United States. However, the ecological sensitivity of remote lakes to dust deposition is not well understood and to date has largely been assessed through spatial and temporal correlations. Using in situ bioassays, we investigated the effects of dust enrichment on the production, chlorophyll <jats:italic>a</jats:italic> (Chl <jats:italic>a</jats:italic>) concentration, and taxonomic composition of phytoplankton and microbial communities in three western US mountain lakes. We found that dust‐derived nutrients increased Chl <jats:italic>a</jats:italic> concentration in all three lakes, but the magnitude of the effect varied from 32% to 226%. This variation was related to pre‐existing lake conditions, such as trophic status, pH, and nutrient limitation. In Castle Lake, co‐limited by N and P, dust bioassays showed an increase in Chl <jats:italic>a</jats:italic> content per cell but suppressed primary production and increased dark <jats:sup>14</jats:sup>C uptake. In contrast, both Flathead Lake and The Loch were primarily P‐limited and exhibited increases in Chl <jats:italic>a</jats:italic> concentration. The contrasting Chl <jats:italic>a</jats:italic> and primary production results from Castle Lake are consistent with the alleviation of nitrogen limitation where energy Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is used for nutrient assimilation instead of carbon fixation. Dust additions also altered the algal and microbial communities. The latter included the addition of new phyla (e.g., <jats:italic>Deinococcota</jats:italic>), indicating that dust‐delivered microbes have the potential to thrive in receiving lakes. Our study provides the first short‐term experimental in situ evidence of rapid ecosystem effects in mountain lakes following dust exposure. The results emphasize the need for continued research in this area to understand interactions of both the short‐ and long‐term consequences of dust‐induced perturbations in remote lakes in the context of global changes.","PeriodicalId":18143,"journal":{"name":"Limnology and Oceanography","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Limnology and Oceanography","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.70061","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"LIMNOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Drought and human land use have increased dust emissions in the western United States. However, the ecological sensitivity of remote lakes to dust deposition is not well understood and to date has largely been assessed through spatial and temporal correlations. Using in situ bioassays, we investigated the effects of dust enrichment on the production, chlorophyll a (Chl a) concentration, and taxonomic composition of phytoplankton and microbial communities in three western US mountain lakes. We found that dust‐derived nutrients increased Chl a concentration in all three lakes, but the magnitude of the effect varied from 32% to 226%. This variation was related to pre‐existing lake conditions, such as trophic status, pH, and nutrient limitation. In Castle Lake, co‐limited by N and P, dust bioassays showed an increase in Chl a content per cell but suppressed primary production and increased dark 14C uptake. In contrast, both Flathead Lake and The Loch were primarily P‐limited and exhibited increases in Chl a concentration. The contrasting Chl a and primary production results from Castle Lake are consistent with the alleviation of nitrogen limitation where energy Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is used for nutrient assimilation instead of carbon fixation. Dust additions also altered the algal and microbial communities. The latter included the addition of new phyla (e.g., Deinococcota), indicating that dust‐delivered microbes have the potential to thrive in receiving lakes. Our study provides the first short‐term experimental in situ evidence of rapid ecosystem effects in mountain lakes following dust exposure. The results emphasize the need for continued research in this area to understand interactions of both the short‐ and long‐term consequences of dust‐induced perturbations in remote lakes in the context of global changes.
期刊介绍:
Limnology and Oceanography (L&O; print ISSN 0024-3590, online ISSN 1939-5590) publishes original articles, including scholarly reviews, about all aspects of limnology and oceanography. The journal''s unifying theme is the understanding of aquatic systems. Submissions are judged on the originality of their data, interpretations, and ideas, and on the degree to which they can be generalized beyond the particular aquatic system examined. Laboratory and modeling studies must demonstrate relevance to field environments; typically this means that they are bolstered by substantial "real-world" data. Few purely theoretical or purely empirical papers are accepted for review.