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Freshwater inflows play an important role in delivering dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to estuaries. Episodic inputs of DOC may support increased bacterial production. However, the role of DOC in supporting zooplankton production is widely debated. To evaluate this role we performed an in situ mesocosm experiment in the Bega River estuary, Australia. We added a DOC leachate derived from terrestrial vegetation to 400 L mesocosm bags as treatments of +1.5, +3, and +16 mg C L−1 and monitored changes in carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, bacteria, chlorophyll a (Chl a), and zooplankton over 22 d. Bacterial biomass peaked at day 2 and was highest in the +16 mg C L−1 treatment. Chl a was not significantly different between treatments. Mesozooplankton was dominated by copepodites of Gladioferens pectinatus and Sulcanus conflictus between days 5–9 and by adults between days 9–15. Significantly higher numbers of copepods were present in the +16 treatment followed by the +3 mg C L−1 treatment compared with the controls. Stable carbon isotope signatures of copepods in the +16 mg C L−1 treatment were significantly different from the control and showed leachate carbon supported between 29.3% and 55.8% of copepod biomass. These results suggest that the impact of allochthonous DOC loading events on estuarine zooplankton occurs over short periods, and that the magnitude of response is, in part, controlled by the quantity of bioavailable DOC loaded to the system. Our findings underscore the importance of microbial dynamics stimulated by DOC loading events from freshwater inflows as a trophic path in estuarine food webs.

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The response of planktonic bacteria and phytoplankton to various additions of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) as glucose, with and without inorganic nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), was tested in the upper to mid Hunter Estuary, Australia. In situ microcosms (1.25 L) were performed at two sites with varying salinities over three seasons. Analysis of variance showed a significant difference among control and treatments for all seasons for the bacterial, dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll a responses (P<0.05). A significant interaction between treatment and site was found in autumn for dissolved oxygen, autumn and spring for bacterial and spring for chlorophyll a responses. At both sites for each season, and on nearly all occasions, bacterial surface area was enhanced by DOC addition as indicated by both increased bacterial abundance and dissolved oxygen utilisation. DOC in combination with inorganic nutrients sometimes further enhanced the bacterial response compared to DOC alone. Inorganic nutrients alone did not enhance growth of the heterotrophic bacterioplankton. Addition of DOC alone led to decreased chlorophyll a relative to the control, probably due to competition for limited inorganic nutrients with the bacterioplankton DOC non-limiting conditions. Results suggest that the heterotrophic community was limited by DOC at both sites and across seasons. An experiment with a larger volume (70 L), performed over a longer time, compared a control with DOC addition. Increased bacterial biomass as a result of DOC addition occurred at day 2. Chlorophyll a did not significantly differ between treatments. An increase in zooplankton density was recorded in the DOC treatment relative to the control at day 10. This study supports the contention that increased DOC delivery with river inflows through environmental flow allocations will stimulate heterotrophic bacterioplankton production in the upper Hunter Estuary.

Freshwater inflows play a key role in the delivery of organic carbon to estuaries. However, our understanding of the dynamics between discharge and carbon globally is limited. In this study we performed a 30-month monitoring study on the Bega and Clyde River estuaries, Australia, to understand the influence that discharge had on carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, bacteria and chlorophyll a dynamics. We hypothesised that 1) discharge would be the most important factor influencing carbon and nutrient concentrations, though during low flows chlorophyll a would also be positively related to carbon, 2) bacteria would be related to dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and chlorophyll a to temperature, nitrogen and phosphorus, and 3) that concentrations of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, bacterial biomass and chlorophyll a would be significantly different between large 'flood flows', smaller 'fresh flows' and base flow conditions. We found that discharge was always the most important factor influencing carbon and nutrient concentrations, and that primary production appeared to have little influence on the variation in DOC concentration even during base flow conditions. We suggest this relationship is likely due to highly episodic discharge that occurred during the study period. Bacteria were related to DOC in the lower estuary sites, but phosphorus in the upper estuary. We suggest this is likely due to the input of bioavailable carbon in the upper estuary leading bacteria to be P limited, which changes downstream to carbon limitation as DOC becomes more refractory. Chlorophyll a was positively related to temperature but not nutrients, which we suggest may be due to competition with bacteria for phosphorus in the upper estuary. Carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations were different under flood, fresh and base flow conditions, though these differences sometimes varied between estuary locations for different resources. Overall, the results demonstrate that discharge plays an important structuring role for carbon, nutrient and bacteria dynamics on the Bega and Clyde Rivers, and that the differences observed between flood and fresh inflows suggest that further study into the influence of differently sized inflow events is important.

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