Molecular biogeography of planktonic and benthic diatoms in the Yangtze River

Background: Diatoms are of great significance to primary productivity in oceans, yet little is known about their biogeographic distribution in oligotrophic rivers. Results: With the help of metabarcoding analysis of 279 samples from the Yangtze River, we provided the first integral biogeographic pattern of planktonic and benthic diatoms over a 6030 km continuum along the world's third largest river. Our study revealed spatial dissimilarity of diatoms under varying landforms, including plateau, mountain, foothill, basin, foothill-mountain, and plain regions, from the river source to the estuary. Environmental drivers of diatom communities were interpreted in terms of photosynthetically active radiation, temperature, channel slope and nutrients, and human interference. Typical benthic diatoms, such as Pinnularia, Paralia, and Aulacoseira, experienced considerable reduction in relative abundance downstream of the Three Gorges Dam and the Xiluodu Dam, two of the world's largest dams. Conclusions: Our study revealed that benthic diatoms are of particular significance in characterizing motile guild in riverine environments, which provides insights into diatom biogeography and biogeochemical cycles in large river ecosystems

How length of light exposure shapes the development of riverine algal biomass in temperate rivers?

The impact of cumulative daily solar radiation (CDSR) on the biomass of river phytoplankton (Chl-a) in the growing season was studied using a large dataset of rivers in the Carpathian Basin. The amount of solar radiation was cumulated over the range of 1–60 days. The CDSR–Chl-a relationship could be described by linear regression and appeared to be significant for almost all watercourses with the exception of rivers with short water residence time. To determine the most relevant time period of CDSR impacting phytoplankton biomass, the slopes of regressions were plotted against the accumulating number of days of light exposure (1–60). Two characteristic shapes were obtained: unimodal for rhithral rivers with hard substrate and steady increase for lowland potamal rivers with fine substrate. In both cases, there is an increasing tendency in the slope values with water residence time (WRT). It was demonstrated that CDSR has a pronounced impact on river phytoplankton biomass even in cases when WRT was shorter than the cumulated solar radiation period. These results indicate that development of phytoplankton within the river channel is a complex process in which meroplankton dynamics may have significant impacts. Our results have two implications: First, CDSR cannot be neglected in predictive modelling of riverine phytoplankton biomass. Second, climate models forecast increased drought with subsequently increased CDSR in several regions globally, which may trigger a rise in phytoplankton biomass in light-limited rivers with high nutrient concentrations

Importance of acidic phosphatase activity in P supply and Gonyostomum semen Ehrenbergh (Raphidophyta) occurrence in a Hungarian peat bog, Keleméri Kis-Mohos (Ne Hungary)

Phosphatase enzymes are capable of releasing phosphate through cleavage of phosphoester bonds. The seasonal importance of this process was examined by using a model substrate paranitrophenylphosphate and the Michaelis-Menten equation to estimate the release rate of PO4-P from phosphomonoesters. The seasonal occurrence of phosphomonoesters and acid phosphatase activity was used to estimate the velocity of phosphate release from these compounds. Filter fractionation of phosphatase activity demonstrated that most activity (>60%) was in size fractions less than 0.45 μm. The release rates were highest in May and June (15 to 25 nmol L–1 min–1) during the Gonyostomum semen (Raphidophyta) bloom and decreased to less than 2 nmol L–1 min–1 in two weeks and remained low throughout the summer and the fall. Fractionation of 32P-H3PO4 labelled dissolved organic phosphorus showed this fraction to vary considerably through the year. Potential phosphate release declined through the summer and into the fall. Significance of the co-occurrence of phosphomonoesters and acid phosphatase activity maxima and Gonyostomum semen (Raphidophyta) bloom is discussed