Effects of whole-lake manipulations of nutrient loading and food web structure on planktonic respiration

We assessed planktonic respiration in whole-lake manipulations of nutrient loading and food web structure in three manipulated and one unmanipulated lake over 7 years. The manipulations created strong contrasts in zooplankton body size across a series of nutrient loads. Large-bodied zooplankton were suppressed by planktivorous fish in one lake, while in the other two manipulated lakes, large-bodied zooplankton dominated community biomass. Nutrients were added as inorganic N and P. Nutrient loads ranged from background to conditions resembling eutrophic lakes. Planktonic respiration was measured weekly in each lake by dark bottle oxygen consumption. Respiration was low when lakes were not fertilized (average 8.5 µmol O2·L-1·day-1) and was correlated with differences in dissolved organic carbon among the lakes. Respiration increased with nutrient addition to a mean range of 12-25 µmol O2·L-1·day-1; however, respiration differed among lakes at the same nutrient loading. Further, respiration was independent of dissolved organic carbon in the fertilized lakes. Differences in the intensity of zooplankton grazing as determined by food web structure strongly regulated primary and bacterial production across the range of nutrient loads. Consequently, respiration was positively related to primary production, phytoplankton biomass, and bacterial production and inversely related to the average size of crustacean zooplankton.