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Whole-Lake Sugar Addition Demonstrates Trophic Transfer of Dissolved Organic Carbon to Top Consumers

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Abstract

Terrestrial dissolved organic carbon (DOC) provides an external carbon source to lake ecosystems. However, there is ongoing debate about whether external DOC that enters a lake can pass up the food web to support top consumers. We show, from experimental manipulation of a whole lake, that externally loaded DOC can contribute appreciably to fish biomass. Monthly additions of cane sugar with a distinct carbon stable isotope value during 2 years rapidly enriched the 13C content of zooplankton and macroinvertebrates, with a more gradual 13C enrichment of fish. After sugar addition stopped, the 13C content of consumers reverted towards original values. A simple isotope mixing model indicated that by the end of the sugar addition almost 20% of fish carbon in the lake was derived from the added sugar. Our results provide the first direct experimental demonstration at relevant ecological spatial and temporal scales that externally loaded DOC to lakes can indeed transfer to top consumers.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by Academy of Finland Grants 114604 and 137671 to RJ. We are grateful for the support from staff and facilities at Lammi Biological Station, University of Helsinki, and the Evo Station of the Natural Resources Institute Finland.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, PO Box 35, 40014, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Roger I. Jones, Hannu Nykänen & Sari Peura

  2. Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, PO Box 111, 80101, Joensuu, Finland

    Paula Kankaala

  3. Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, 70211, Kuopio, Finland

    Hannu Nykänen

  4. Science for Life Laboratories, Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, SLU, PO Box 7026, 750 07, Uppsala, Sweden

    Sari Peura

  5. Natural Resources Institute Finland, Survontie 9 A, 40500, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Martti Rask

  6. Natural Resources Institute Finland, PL 2, 00791, Helsinki, Finland

    Sami Vesala

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  1. Roger I. Jones
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Correspondence to Roger I. Jones.

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Author Contributions

RIJ conceived and planned the study with advice from MR, obtained funding, led the data analysis and wrote the first draft of the manuscript; PK, HN, SP and SV collected data; all authors contributed substantially to the final manuscript.

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Jones, R.I., Kankaala, P., Nykänen, H. et al. Whole-Lake Sugar Addition Demonstrates Trophic Transfer of Dissolved Organic Carbon to Top Consumers. Ecosystems 21, 495–506 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-017-0164-6

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