Seasonal dynamics of lake metabolism in a sub-tropical alpine lake

摘要

The role disturbances, such as typhoons or storms, play in af-fecting ecological processes in sub-tropical alpine lakes is poorly understood. These disturbances can cause loading of nutrients and dissolved organic carbon and can completely mix the water column, all of which can influence lake metabolism. Small aquatic ecosystems are often net heterotrophic, reflecting the important subsidy of terrestrially-produced organic matter to these systems (BEISNER et al. 2003). Water color has been suggested as a surrogate of allochthonous dissolved organic carbon and it affects water temperature, thermocline depth, light climate, and system metabolism (HOUSER 2006). Thus, water color may mediate the response of physical lake characteristics to disturbance events and is important in determining how lake ecosystem metabolism responds to environmental changes or extreme meteorological disturbances (SCHINDLER et al. 1997).So far, few studies have investigated whole-lake metabolism in subtropical alpine lakes. We report the results of a study of the metabolism of Yuan-Yang Lake (YYL), Taiwan. The goals of this paper are to (1) characterize the dynamics of ecosystem metabolism in different seasons, and (2) identify the key drivers accounting for variations in ecosystem metabolism.