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Spatiotemporal pattern and biodegradation process of amino acids in the large shallow eutrophic lake Taihu, China

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Abstract

Organic matter (OM) and nutrient inputs generated by human activities promote the development of eutrophication. Amino acids (AAs) are an integral part of OM, and studying their patterns will provide new insights into organic matter dynamics in lakes. Four seasonal field campaigns in eutrophic Lake Taihu and a 14-day phytoplankton degradation experiment were carried out to determine the variability and bioavailability of amino acids. The quality and quantity of AAs varied among different seasons and lake types. The concentrations of particulate (PAA) and dissolved (DAA) AA were 14.67 ± 13.25 μM (carbon- and nitrogen-normalized PAA yields: PAA-C%, 23.8 ± 13.5%; PAA-N%, 22.8 ± 2.1%) and 2.95 ± 1.05 μM (carbon- and nitrogen-normalized DAA yields: DAA-C%, 3.7 ± 1.1%; DAA-N%, 12.6 ± 11.2%) in Lake Taihu, respectively. PAA and DAA showed high mean values in the algal-dominated northern area in summer. Glutamic acid (Glu), alanine (Ala), aspartic acid (Asp) and glycine (Gly) contributed to nearly 50% of PAA, while Gly, accounting for 17–24%, was the main component of DAA. During a 14-day phytoplankton degradation period, 98% of Chl a, 63% of POC and 92% of PAA were removed in the dark treatment, and a more obvious downward trend was recorded than in the light treatment. Principal component analysis of the indices of PAA indicated that Glu, arginine (Arg) and histidine (His) were dominant on day 0, while Gly and lysine (Lys) were dominant on day 14. There were notable serine + threonine (Ser + Thr [mol%]) and aspartic acid/glycine ratio (Asp/Gly [mol%]) end-member divisions among different organic matter sources. DAA had higher Ser + Thr [mol%] and lower Asp/Gly [mol%] values than PAA. The amino acid degradation index (DI) of PAA and DAA was 0.97 ± 0.28 and − 1.04 ± 0.43, respectively. The fresh DAA from the algae degradation incubation also had DI values similar to those of field DAA in the northern algae–dominated lake region. Amino acid parameters (AA-C%, DI values, Ser + Thr [mol%] and Asp/Gly [mol%]) were calculated to indicate the source, freshness and bioavailability of organic matter in eutrophic shallow Lake Taihu.

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Funding

The National Natural Science Foundation of China (41977322, 41901120), Open Research Foundation of the State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2018SKL004), and Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China (ZR2019BD052) provided support for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment and Planning, Liaocheng University, Hunan Road 1, Liaocheng, 252000, China

    Xin Yao, Tuantuan Fan & Li Liu

  2. Taihu Laboratory for Lake Ecosystem Research, State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Guang Gao & Hao Liu

  3. Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, MEE, Nanjing, 210042, People’s Republic of China

    Jianying Chao

Authors
  1. Xin Yao
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  2. Tuantuan Fan
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  3. Guang Gao
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  4. Li Liu
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  5. Jianying Chao
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  6. Hao Liu
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Contributions

Xin Yao: Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, writing-original draft, writing-review and editing.

Guang Gao: cosupervising, data curation, writing-review and editing.

Jianying Cao, Hao Liu: investigation, formal analysis, visualization, software.

Tuantuan Fan, Li Liu: writing-review and editing.

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Correspondence to Xin Yao.

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Yao, X., Fan, T., Gao, G. et al. Spatiotemporal pattern and biodegradation process of amino acids in the large shallow eutrophic lake Taihu, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 12584–12595 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23014-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23014-8

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