The second life of terrestrial and plastic carbon as nutritionally valuable food for aquatic consumers

Primary production is the basis for energy and biomolecule flow in food webs. Nutritional importance of terrestrial and plastic carbon via mixotrophic algae to upper trophic level is poorly studied. We explored this question by analysing the contribution of osmo- and phagomixotrophic species in boreal lakes and used ¹³C-labelled materials and compound-specific isotopes to determine biochemical fate of carbon backbone of leaves, lignin–hemicellulose and polystyrene at four-trophic level experiment. Microbes prepared similar amounts of amino acids from leaves and lignin, but four times more membrane lipids from lignin than leaves, and much less from polystyrene. Mixotrophic algae (Cryptomonas sp.) upgraded simple fatty acids to essential omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Labelled amino and fatty acids became integral parts of cell membranes of zooplankton (Daphnia magna) and fish (Danio rerio). These results show that terrestrial and plastic carbon can provide backbones for essential biomolecules of mixotrophic algae and consumers at higher trophic levels.     

Crop responses to CO2 enrichment

Carbon dioxide is rising in the global atmosphere, and this increase can be expected to continue into the foreseeable future. This compound is an essential input to plant life. Crop function is affected across all scales from biochemical to agro-ecosystem. An array of methods (leaf cuvettes, field chambers, free-air release systems) are available for experimental studies of CO₂ effects. Carbon dioxide enrichment of the air in which crops grow usually stimulates their growth and yield. Plant structure and physiology are markedly altered. Interactions between CO₂ and environmental factors that influence plants are known to occur. Implications for crop growth and yield are enormous. Strategies designed to assure future global food security must include a consideration of crop responses to elevated atmospheric CO₂. Future research should include these targets: search for new insights, development of new techniques, construction of better simulation models, investigation of belowground processes, study of interactions, and the elimination of major discrepancies in the scientific knowledge base.     

From aquatic science to ecosystem health: a philosophical perspective

The development of an ecosystem (social, economic, environmental) approach to water management is traced from its origins in the Great Lakes of North America. The focus on health and integrity of ecosystems is an outgrowth of the Lamarckian concept of The Biosphere as a global system of matter, life, and mind. The driving forces behind the development of an ecosystem approach have been negative feedback from excessive demotechnic growth and faith that we can maintain a healthy relationship with Mother Earth.     

The legacy of forest logging on organic matter inputs and storage in tropical streams

Riparian forests play an important role in stream ecosystems, as they support biodiversity, reduce water erosion, and provide litter that fuels aquatic biota. However, they are affected by great array of anthropogenic threats (e.g., fire, logging, and organic pollution), which alter species composition and their physical structure. Although forest recovery after disturbance such as logging can take decades, the legacy of forest clear-cut logging on key processes in tropical riparian ecosystems is mostly unknown. Here, we investigated how litter inputs (leaves, twigs, and reproductive parts) and storage, key processes for carbon and nutrient recycling and for forest and stream biota, are influenced by riparian vegetation undergoing succession (after 28 years from logging) through the comparison of reference and logged forest sites in the Cerrado biome. Litterfall was overall similar between forest types, but litterfall of twigs was twofold higher at logged than reference sites. Similarly, litter inputs from the bank to the stream (i.e., lateral inputs) and streambed storage were 50–60% higher at logged than reference sites. The higher litterfall observed in logged forests could be related to higher proportion of tree species that are characteristic of primary and secondary successional stages, including fast-growing and liana species, which often are more productive and common in anthropogenic areas. Our results showed that the legacy impact of clear-cut logging, even if residual woody vegetation is maintained in riparian buffers, can shift the type, quantity, and seasonality of litter subsidies to tropical streams. This knowledge should be considered within the context of management and conservation of communities and ecosystem processes in the forest-stream interfaces.     

Root traits of perennial C4 grasses contribute to cultivar variations in soil chemistry and species patterns in particulate and mineral-associated carbon pool formation

Recent studies have indicated that the C₄ perennial bioenergy crops switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) accumulate significant amounts of soil carbon (C) owing to their extensive root systems. Soil C accumulation is likely driven by inter- and intraspecific variability in plant traits, but the mechanisms that underpin this variability remain unresolved. In this study we evaluated how inter- and intraspecific variation in root traits of cultivars from switchgrass (Cave-in-Rock, Kanlow, Southlow) and big bluestem (Bonanza, Southlow, Suther) affected the associations of soil C accumulation across soil fractions using stable isotope techniques. Our experimental field site was established in June 2008 at Fermilab in Batavia, IL. In 2018, soil cores were collected (30 cm depth) from all cultivars. We measured root biomass, root diameter, specific root length, bulk soil C, C associated with coarse particulate organic matter (CPOM) and fine particulate organic matter plus silt- and clay-sized fractions, and characterized organic matter chemical class composition in soil using high-resolution Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. C₄ species were established on soils that supported C₃ grassland for 36 years before planting, which allowed us to use differences in the natural abundance of stable C isotopes to quantify C₄ plant-derived C. We found that big bluestem had 36.9% higher C₄ plant-derived C compared to switchgrass in the CPOM fraction in the 0–10 cm depth, while switchgrass had 60.7% higher C₄ plant-derived C compared to big bluestem in the clay fraction in the 10–20 cm depth. Our findings suggest that the large root system in big bluestem helps increase POM-C formation quickly, while switchgrass root structure and chemistry build a mineral-bound clay C pool through time. Thus, both species and cultivar selection can help improve bioenergy management to maximize soil carbon gains and lower CO₂ emissions.     

Light, temperature and nutrients as factors in photosynthetic adjustment to an elevated concentration of carbon dioxide

The short-term stimulation of the net rate of carbon dioxide exchange of leaves by elevated concentrations of CO₂ usually observed in C₃ plants sometimes does not persist. Experiments were conducted to test whether the patterns of response to the environment during growth were consistent with the hypotheses that photosynthetic adjustment to elevated CO₂ concentration is due to (1) feedback inhibition or (2) nutrient stress. Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr. cv. Williams] and sugar beet (Best vulgaris L. cv. Mono Hye-4) were grown from seed at 350 and 700 μl^? CO₂, at 20 and 25°C, at a photon flux density of 0.5 and 1.0 mmol m^?2 S^?1 and with three nutrient regimes until the third trifoliolate leaf of soybean or the sixth leaf of sugar beet had finished expanding. Net rates of CO₂ exchange of the most recently expanded leaves were then measured at both 350 and 700 μl 1^?1 CO₂. Plants grown at the elevated CO₂ concentration had net rates of leaf CO₂ exchange which were reduced by 33% in sugar beet and 23% in soybean when measured at 350 μl 1^?1 CO₂ and when averaged over all treatments. Negative photosynthetic adjustment to elevated CO₂ concentration was not greater at 20 than at 25°C, was not greater at a photon flux density of 1.0 than at 0.5 mmol m^?2 S^?1 and was not greater with limiting nutrients. Furthermore, in soybean, negative photosynthetic adjustment could be induced by a single night at elevated CO₂ concentration, with net rates of CO₂ exchange the next day equal to those of leaves of plants grown from seed at the elevated concentration of CO₂. These patterns do not support either the feedback-inhibition or the nutrient-stress hypothesis of photosynthetic adjustment to elevated concentrations of CO₂.     

EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL VARIATION ON SINKING RATES OF MARINE PHYTOPLANKTON1

The effects of environmental variables, particularly irradiance, on the sinking rates of phytoplankton were investigated using cultures of Chaetoceros gracilis Schütt and C. flexuosum Mangin in laboratory experiments; these data were compared with results from assemblages in the open ocean and marginal ice zone of the Greenland Sea. In culture experiments both the irradiance under which the diatom was grown and culture growth rate were positively correlated with sinking rates. Sinking rates (ψ) in the Greenland Sea were smallest when determined from chlorophyll (mean ψ_chl= 0.14 m · d^?1) and biogenic silica (ψ_si= 0.14 m · d^?1) and greatest when determined from particulate carbon (ψ_c= 0.55 m · d^?1) and nitrogen (ψ_N= 0.64 m · d^?1). Field measurements indicated that variations in sinking may be associated with changes in irradiance and nitrate concentrations. Because these factors do not directly affect water density, they must be inducing physiological changes in the cell which affect buoyancy. Although a direct response to a single environmental variable was not always evident, sinking rates were positively correlated with growth rates in the marginal ice zone, further indicating a connection to physiological processes. Estimats of carbon flux at stations with vertically mixed euphotic zones indicated that approximately 30% of the daily primary production sank from the euphotic zone in the form of small particulates. Calculated carbon flux tended to increase with primary productivity.     

The importance of ecological research for ecosystem management: The case of browsing by swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor) in commercially harvested native forests

Summary Ecosystem management often proceeds within the context of sub‐optimal relationships between ecologists and ecosystem managers, and management outcomes could be improved with greater collaboration between members of these disciplines. This paper identifies an ecosystem management problem resulting from the interaction between timber harvesting and browsing wallabies, and this case study is used to exemplify how ecological data and expertise can contribute to the process of ecosystem management. It is argued that appropriate use of existing ecological data, establishment of strategic new research and the implementation of management actions as experimental hypothesis tests can facilitate achievement of management objectives, but greater collaboration between ecologists and managers is required before this can occur. Reasons for sub‐optimal relationships are outlined, and the potential for structural change within large State‐run ecosystem management agencies to improve interactions between managers and ecologists is discussed.