Oxygen consumption in seasonally stratified lakes decreases only below a marginal phosphorus threshold.

ABSTRACT: Areal oxygen (O₂) consumption in deeper layers of stratified lakes and reservoirs depends on the amount of settling organic matter. As phosphorus (P) limits primary production in most lakes, protective and remediation efforts often seek to reduce P input. However, lower P concentrations do not always lead to lower O₂ consumption rates. This study used a large hydrochemical dataset to show that hypolimnetic O₂ consumption rates in seasonally stratified European lakes remain consistently elevated within a narrow range (1.06 ± 0.08 g O₂ m^-2 d^-1) as long as areal P supply (APS) exceeded 0.54 ± 0.06 g P m^-2 during the productive season. APS consists of the sum of total P present in the productive top 15 m of the water

SUBMITTER: Muller B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6889406 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature