Carbon cycling in lakes: Response to water column stratification

Objective

Recent advances in biogeochemistry (biomarker analyses, compound-specific carbon isotope analyses of lipids) and microbiological techniques (FISH, DNA sequencing) have been very successfully employed in deciphering formation and/or transformation processes of organic material in the ocean. In contrast to the marine environment, the contribution of terrestrial ecosystems to the global carbon budget and the concentration of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane) in the atmosphere are only scarcely known. Terrestrial aquatic ecosystems participate in biogeochemical cycling of carbon species and act as carbon sinks or sources in response to environmental parameters. In this study, we will analyse particulate organic matter from different levels of the water column and on the underlying sediments from a eutrophic (Lake Lugano) and from an oligotrophic lake (Lake Thun, Switzerland). Lipids as markers specific for phytoplankton groups, land plants, bacteria, and archae will be quantified in the extractable organic matter and analysed for their carbon isotopic composition.

The project will also include analyses of water chemistry, isotopic composition of dissolved inorganic carbon species, total organic carbon and sedimentary carbonates. The differences in the net carbon fluxes and isotopic fractionation processes within an oligotrophic lake and a eutrophic limnic environment will be outlined. Information about the environmental parameters affecting the carbon cycles within the water column and their influence o n the net carbon fluxes of the lakes are expected from the proposed research.

Fields of science

• natural sciences › earth and related environmental sciences › geology › sedimentology
• natural sciences › biological sciences › microbiology › bacteriology
• natural sciences › biological sciences › biochemistry › biomolecules › lipids
• natural sciences › earth and related environmental sciences › hydrology › limnology
• natural sciences › earth and related environmental sciences › geochemistry › biogeochemistry

Programme(s)

• FP6-MOBILITY - Human resources and Mobility in the specific programme for research, technological development and demonstration "Structuring the European Research Area" under the Sixth Framework Programme 2002-2006

Topic(s)

• MOBILITY-2.1 - Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowships (EIF)

Call for proposal

FP6-2005-MOBILITY-5
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

EIF - Marie Curie actions-Intra-European Fellowships

Coordinator

EIDGENOSSISCHE ANSTALT FUR WASSERVERSORGUNG,ABWASSERREINIGUNG UND GEWÄSSERSCHUTZ

Address

Ueberlandstrasse 133
Duebendorf
Switzerland

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