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U.S. Department of Energy
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Dissolved organic matter and lake metabolism: biogeochemistry and controls of nutrient flux dynamics in lakes. Technical progress report, 1 August 1981-25 August 1982

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:7090701
From initial analyses of critical components of representative freshwater systems, the research has expanded to a major integrated program on the regulatory mechanisms of growth and rates of carbon cycling that focuses on detailed evaluation of quantitative control interactions among (1) the microflora of the pelagial zones of several lakes of progressively greater eutrophy, (2) littoral and wetland photosynthetic producer-decomposer complex, and (3) allochthonous inorganic-organic influxes and their biotic processing. The underlying thesis is that quantification of the dynamic carbon fluxes among these components and their rate control mechanisms by physical and chemical factors are fundamental to elucidation of the rate functions of lake productivity and compensatory mechanisms in response to changes. A major portion of the present research and that of the past contract year has been directed towards the fate and nutrient mechanisms regulating qualitative and quantitative utilization and losses of organic carbon synthesized within lakes and their drainage basins. It has become increasingly apparent that the wetland and littoral flora, and attendant epiphytic and benthic microflora, have major regulatory controls on biogeochemical cycling of whole lake systems. A major effort on factors regulating the metabolism of littoral and wetland macrophytes and attached algae has been coupled to integrated studies on their decomposition and the fate of detrital dissolved and particulate organic matter. These organic products are being coupled to influences on enzymatic activity and inorganic nutrient cycling, and resultant effects on phytoplankton community and productivity.
Research Organization:
Michigan State Univ., Hickory Corners (USA). W.K. Kellogg Biological Station
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-76EV01599
OSTI ID:
7090701
Report Number(s):
DOE/EV/01599-219-Pt.1; COO-1599-219-Pt.1; ON: DE82021861
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English