On the contribution of phytoplankton and benthic biofilms to the sediment record of marker pigments in high mountain lakes |
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Authors: | Teresa Buchaca Jordi Catalan |
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Institution: | 1.Limnology Group (CSIC-UB), Centre d’Estudis Avan?ats de Blanes (CEAB),Spanish Research Council (CSIC),Blanes, Catalonia,Spain;2.Department of Freshwater Ecology, National Environmental Research Institute,Aarhus University,Silkeborg,Denmark |
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Abstract: | This study compares the marker pigment composition in three different lake compartments: the water column; the surface sediment
biofilm (0–0.5 cm), where production and main degradation processes take place; and the deep sediment (15–17 cm), where the
signal is finally stored and marker pigments are used as a proxy in paleolimnological studies. The aim was to evaluate which
marker pigments better record in the sediment the relative contributions of planktonic and benthic production in high mountain
lakes, taking into account the differential preservation existing among pigments. A survey of 82 high mountain lakes distributed
along the major environmental gradients was carried out in the Pyrenees. Comparison of pigments between the three compartments
revealed that both water column and sediment biofilm signals could be distinguished in old sediment layers, despite the observation
that some of the most characteristic carotenoids that appeared frequently and in high concentrations in the water column were
already less common or even absent from the sediment biofilm. In the shallowest lakes, pigment composition in the sediment
biofilm was typical of photosynthetically active communities and their deep sediment samples were characterised by a substitution
of fucoxanthin by diatoxanthin as the dominant diatom marker pigment. However, in the deepest lakes the pigment composition
of the sediment biofilm and deep sediment was similar, characterised by marker pigments of mainly planktonic algal groups
and pheophytins, which are typical pigments of decaying communities. Results are discussed in terms of how pigment source
(planktonic or benthic) and pigment type (lability of molecule) interact to shape pigment composition in the sediment record
of high mountain lakes. |
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Keywords: | Pigments Biomarkers Biofilm Degradation HPLC Pyrenees |
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