Can pelagic net heterotrophy account for carbon fluxes from eastern Canadian lakes?

Lakes worldwide are commonly oversaturated with CO2, however the source of this CO2 oversaturation is not well understood. To examine the magnitude of the C flux to the atmosphere and determine if an excess of respiration (R) over gross primary production (GPP) is sufficient to account for this C flux, metabolic parameters and stable isotopes of dissolved O2 and C were measured in 23 Québec lakes. All of the lakes sampled were oversaturated with CO2 over the sampling period, on average 221 ± 25%. However, little evidence was found to conclude that this CO2 oversaturation was the result of an excess of pelagic R over GPP. In lakes Croche and à l’Ours, where CO2 flux, R and GPP were measured weekly, the annual difference between pelagic GPP and R, or net primary production (NPP), was not sufficient to account for the size of the CO2 flux to the atmosphere. In Lac Croche average annual NPP was 14.4 mg C m−2 d−1 while the average annual flux of CO2 to the atmosphere was 34 mg C m−2 d−1. In Lac à l’Ours average annual NPP was −9.1 mg C m−2 d−1 while the average annual flux of CO2 to the atmosphere was 55 mg C m−2 d−1. In all of the lakes sampled, O2 saturation averaged 104.0 ± 1.7% during the ice-free season and the isotopic composition of dissolved O2 (δ18ODO) was 22.9 ± 0.3‰, lower than atmospheric values and indicative of net autotrophy. Carbon evasion was not a function of R, nor did the isotopic signature of dissolved CO2 in the lakes present evidence of excess R over GPP. External inputs of C must therefore subsidize the lake to explain the continued CO2 oversaturation. The isotopic composition of dissolved inorganic C (δ13CDIC) indicates that the CO2 oversaturation cannot be attributed to in situ aerobic respiration. δ13CDIC reveals a source of excess C enriched in 13C, which may be accounted for by anaerobic sediment respiration or groundwater inputs followed by kinetic isotope fractionation during degassing under open system conditions.