Epipelic and pelagic primary production in Alaskan Arctic lakes of varying depth

We compared on eight dates during the ice-free period physicochemical properties and rates of phytoplankton and epipelic primary production in six arctic lakes dominated by soft bottom substrate. Lakes were classified as shallow (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$ \overline {\text{z}} $$\end{document} < 2.5 m), intermediate in depth (2.5 m < \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$ \overline {\text{z}} $$\end{document} < 4.5 m), and deep (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$ \overline {\text{z}} $$\end{document} > 4.5 m), with each depth category represented by two lakes. Although shallow lakes circulated freely and intermediate and deep lakes stratified thermally for the entire summer, dissolved oxygen concentrations were always >70% of saturation values. Soluble reactive phosphorus and dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN = NO3−–N + NH4+–N) were consistently below the detection limit (0.05 μmol l−1) in five lakes. However, one lake shallow lake (GTH 99) periodically showed elevated values of DIN (17 μmol l−1), total-P (0.29 μmol l−1), and total-N (33 μmol l−1), suggesting wind-generated sediment resuspension. Due to increased nutrient availability or entrainment of microphytobenthos, GTH 99 showed the highest average volume-based values of phytoplankton chlorophyll a (chl a) and primary production, which for the six lakes ranged from 1.0 to 2.9 μg l−1 and 0.7–3.8 μmol C l−1 day−1. Overall, however, increased \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$ \overline {\text{z}} $$\end{document} resulted in increased area-based values of phytoplankton chl a and primary production, with mean values for the three lake classes ranging from 3.6 to 6.1 mg chl a m−2 and 3.2–5.8 mmol C m−2 day−1. Average values of epipelic chl a ranged from 131 to 549 mg m−2 for the three depth classes, but levels were not significantly different due to high spatial variability. However, average epipelic primary production was significantly higher in shallow lakes (12.2 mmol C m−2 day−1) than in intermediate and deep lakes (3.4 and 2.4 mmol C m−2 day−1). Total primary production (6.7–15.4 mmol C m−2 day−1) and percent contribution of the epipelon (31–66%) were inversely related to mean depth, such that values for both variables were significantly higher in shallow lakes than in intermediate or deep lakes.