Blue Waters, Green Bottoms: Benthic Filamentous Algal Blooms Are an Emerging Threat to Clear Lakes Worldwide.

Nearshore (littoral) habitats of clear lakes with high water quality are increasingly experiencing unexplained proliferations of filamentous algae that grow on submerged surfaces. These filamentous algal blooms (FABs) are sometimes associated with nutrient pollution in groundwater, but complex changes in climate, nutrient transport, lake hydrodynamics, and food web structure may also facilitate this emerging threat to clear lakes. A coordinated effort among members of the public, managers, and scientists is needed to document the occurrence of FABs, to standardize methods for measuring their severity, to adapt existing data collection networks to include nearshore habitats, and to mitigate and reverse this profound structural change in lake ecosystems. Current models of lake eutrophication do not explain this littoral greening. However, a cohesive response to it is essential for protecting some of the world's most valued lakes and the flora, fauna, and ecosystem services they sustain.

Priming in the microbial landscape: periphytic algal stimulation of litter-associated microbial decomposers.

Microbial communities associated with submerged detritus in aquatic ecosystems often comprise a diverse mixture of autotrophic and heterotrophic microbes, including algae, bacteria, protozoa, and fungi. Recent studies have documented increased rates of plant litter mass loss when periphytic algae are present. We conducted laboratory and field experiments to assess potential metabolic interactions between natural autotrophic and heterotrophic microbial communities inhabiting submerged decaying plant litter of Typha angustifolia and Schoenoplectus acutus. In the field, submerged plant litter was either exposed to natural sunlight or placed under experimental canopies that manipulated light availability and growth of periphytic algae. Litter was collected and returned to the laboratory, where algal photosynthesis was manipulated (light/dark incubation), while rates of bacterial and fungal growth and productivity were simultaneously quantified. Bacteria and fungi were rapidly stimulated by exposure to light, thus establishing the potential for algal priming of microbial heterotrophic decay activities. Experimental incubations of decaying litter with 14C- and 13C-bicarbonate established that inorganic C fixed by algal photosynthesis was rapidly transferred to and assimilated by heterotrophic microbial decomposers. Periphytic algal stimulation of microbial heterotrophs, especially fungal decomposers, is an important and largely unrecognized interaction within the detrital microbial landscape, which may transform our current conceptual understanding of microbial secondary production and organic matter decomposition in aquatic ecosystems.

Brown meets green: light and nutrients alter detritivore assimilation of microbial nutrients from leaf litter.

In aquatic detrital-based food webs, research suggests that autotroph-heterotroph microbial interactions exert bottom-up controls on energy and nutrient transfer. To address this emerging topic, we investigated microbial responses to nutrient and light treatments during Liriodendron tulipifera litter decomposition and fed litter to the caddisfly larvae Pycnopsyche sp. We measured litter-associated algal, fungal, and bacterial biomass and production. Microbes were also labeled with 14 C and 33 P to trace distinct microbial carbon (C) and phosphorus (P) supporting Pycnopsyche assimilation and incorporation (growth). Litter-associated algal and fungal production rates additively increased with higher nutrient and light availability. Incorporation of microbial P did not differ across diets, except for higher incorporation efficiency of slower-turnover P on low-nutrient, shaded litter. On average, Pycnopsyche assimilated fungal C more efficiently than bacterial or algal C, and Pycnopsyche incorporated bacterial C more efficiently than algal or fungal C. Due to high litter fungal biomass, fungi supported 89.6-93.1% of Pycnopsyche C growth, compared to 0.2% to 3.6% supported by bacteria or algae. Overall, Pycnopsyche incorporated the most C in high nutrient and shaded litter. Our findings affirm others' regarding autotroph-heterotroph microbial interactions and extend into the trophic transfer of microbial energy and nutrients through detrital food webs.

Periphytic algae decouple fungal activity from leaf litter decomposition via negative priming.

1. Well-documented in terrestrial settings, priming effects describe stimulated heterotrophic microbial activity and decomposition of recalcitrant carbon by additions of labile carbon. In aquatic settings, algae produce labile exudates which may elicit priming during organic matter decomposition, yet the directions and mechanisms of aquatic priming effects remain poorly tested. 2. We tested algal-induced priming during decomposition of two leaf species of contrasting recalcitrance, Liriodendron tulipifera and Quercus nigra, in experimental streams under light or dark conditions. We measured litter-associated algal, bacterial, and fungal biomass and activity, stoichiometry, and litter decomposition rates over 43 days. 3. Light increased algal biomass and production rates and increased bacterial abundance 141-733% and fungal production rates 20-157%. Incubations with a photosynthesis inhibitor established that algal activity directly stimulated fungal production rates in the short-term. 4. Algal-stimulated fungal production rates on both leaf species were not coupled to long-term increases in fungal biomass accrual or litter decomposition rates, which were 154-157% and 164-455% greater in the dark, respectively. The similar patterns on fast- vs. slow-decomposing L. tulipifera and Q. nigra, respectively, indicated that substrate recalcitrance may not mediate priming strength or direction. 5. In this example of negative priming, periphytic algae decoupled fungal activity from decomposition, likely by providing labile carbon invested toward greater fungal growth and reproduction instead of recalcitrant carbon degradation. If common, algal-induced negative priming could stimulate heterotrophy reliant on labile carbon yet suppress decomposition of recalcitrant carbon, modifying energy and nutrients available to upper trophic levels and enhancing organic carbon storage or export in well-lit aquatic habitats.

Periphytic photosynthetic stimulation of extracellular enzyme activity in aquatic microbial communities associated with decaying typha litter.

We examined the effect of light on extracellular enzyme activities of periphytic/endogenous microbial assemblages associated with decomposing litter of an emergent macrophyte Typha angustifolia within a small inland wetland in southeastern Michigan. Standing-dead Typha leaf litter was collected, placed into floating wire mesh litter baskets, and submerged in a wetland pool. Enzyme saturation assays were conducted on three occasions following litter submergence (days 9, 28, and 44) to generate saturation curves for the individual enzymes tested and to examine potential differences in enzyme saturation kinetics during microbial colonization and development. Experimental light manipulations were conducted on two occasions during microbial development (days 10 and 29). Short-term (30 min) light exposure significantly increased extracellular beta-glucosidase activity of litter-associated microbial communities. Activities of beta-xylosidase and leucine-aminopeptidase were not stimulated, and stimulation of phosphatase activity was variable. The exact mechanism for increased enzyme activity remains unknown, but it may have been increased pH arising from periphytic algal photosynthesis. These results suggest that extracellular enzyme activity in microbial communities colonizing natural organic substrata may be influenced by light/photosynthesis, as has previously been demonstrated for periphyton communities grown on artificial, inert substrata. Thus, light/photosynthetic mediated stimulation of extracellular enzyme activities may be a common occurrence in microbial communities associated with natural decaying plant litter in wetlands and might engender diurnal patterns in other microbial decay processes (e.g., production, organic matter decomposition, and mineralization).

Application of the [3H]leucine incorporation technique for quantification of bacterial secondary production associated with decaying wetland plant litter.

The radiolabeled leucine incorporation technique for quantifying rates of bacterial production has increased in popularity since its original description for bacterioplankton communities. Prior studies addressing incorporation conditions (e.g., substrate saturation) for bacterial communities in other habitats, such as decaying plant litter, have reported a wide range of final leucine concentrations (400 nM to 50 microM) required to achieve saturation-level uptake. We assessed the application of the [(3)H]leucine incorporation procedure for measuring bacterial production on decaying wetland plant litter. Substrate saturation experiments (nine concentrations, 10 nM to 50 microM final leucine concentration) were conducted on three dates for microbial communities colonizing the submerged litter of three emergent plant species (Typha angustifolia, Schoenoplectus validus, and Phragmites australis). A modified [(3)H]leucine protocol was developed by coupling previously described incubation and alkaline extraction protocols with microdialysis (500 molecular weight cutoff membrane) of the final radiolabeled protein extract. The incorporation of [(3)H]leucine into protein exhibited a biphasic saturation curve, with lower apparent K(m) values ranging from 400 nM to 4.2 microM depending on the plant species studied. Upper apparent K(m) values ranged from 1.3 to 59 microM. These results suggest differential uptake by litter-associated microbial assemblages, with the lower apparent K(m) values possibly representing bacterial uptake and higher apparent K(m) values representing a combination of both bacterial and nonbacterial (e.g., eukaryotic) uptake.