Algal and bacterial pigments in non-laminated lacustrine sediment: Studies of their sedimentation, degradation and stratigraphy

Abstract

Natural phyto‐ and bacterioplankton populations of Lake Vechten (the Netherlands) were subjected to darkness under oxic and anoxic conditions at in situ temperatures in order to test the stability in time of their photosynthetic pigments. Furthermore, sedimentary fluxes and concentrations of pigments were estimated in (respectively) sediment trap catches and at the sediment‐water interphase in order to measure the pigment breakdown upon burial into the sediment. The chlorophylls and most of the xanthophylls showed substantial losses of 20% to 60% in the incubation experiments as well as in the surficial sediment. β‐Carotene, okenone and echinenone were most stable (2–10% losses); fucoxanthin and peridinin were degraded extensively; alloxanthin and zeaxanthin held an intermediate position as did the bacteriochlorophylls. Trends in sediment profiles of pigments were compared with limnological data obtained during the enhanced eutrophication of the lake. Evidence was provided that the β‐carotene profile closely followed the increase of phytoplankton biomass. Although susceptible to substantial degradation, several profiles of pigments and of pigment ratios could be related in a qualitative way to biomass and to shifts in species composition which occurred as a result of the changing ecological conditions in the lake.

An individual-based model of pigment flux in lakes: implications for organic biogeochemistry and paleoecology

“…Once deposited, pigments can be further degraded by rapid chemical or biological processes (Repeta and Gagosian 1984;Hurley and Armstrong 1991;Steenbergen et al 1994;Sinninghe Damste and Koopmans 1997). However, the magnitude and relative importance of variation in these loss factors may change with the specific lake depth, the penetration depths of light and oxygen relative to lake depth, and the mean depth of the producer population relative to all three factors (Hurley and Garrison 1993;Baines and Pace 1994).…”

“…Chlorophylls and carotenoids have been used to monitor changes in productivity and community composition (Millie et al 1993;Claustre 1994), vertical zonation of algae and bacteria (Hurley and Watras 1992;Hurley and Garrison 1993), plankton sedimentation (Poister et al 1999), herbivore grazing Lorenzen 1985a, 1985b;, and ecosystem efficiency (Baines and Pace 1994). Production, algal biomass, and pigment sedimentation rates are correlated (Gorham et al 1974;Guilizzoni et al 1983;Leavitt and Findlay 1994), but the relationship is often weak, possibly because of lake-specific variation in pigment loss during deposition Hurley and Armstrong 1991;Steenbergen et al 1994).…”

Long‐term pigment dynamics and diatom survival in dark sediment

“…Several of these pigments are used as biomarkers for specific algal groups and are often assumed to be specific for living algae. However, photosynthetic pigments are in general not fully degraded in sediments (Hurley and Armstrong 1990;Sun et al 1993;Steenbergen et al 1994), and strong differences in degradability of individual pigments can occur (Hurley and Armstrong 1990;Steenbergen et al 1994). Like for other organic compounds, degradation of pigments is controlled by various factors (Burdige 2007).…”

“…A major controlling factor is oxygen availability (Sun et al 1993;Bianchi et al 2000), which is often directly linked with bioturbation activity of benthic fauna (Bianchi et al 2000). Ultimately, those pigments that escape degradation can be preserved in the sediment over geological timescales, which allows, for example, reconstruction of past phytoplankton biomass and community composition from distribution of pigments in sediment cores (Leavitt 1993;Steenbergen et al 1994).…”

Sedimentary photosynthetic pigments of algae and phototrophic bacteria in Lake Hamana, Japan: temporal changes of anoxia in its five basins

“…Sedimentary organic indicators such as photosynthetic pigments originating from phototrophic sulfur bacteria and the ratio of algal chlorophyll derivatives to carotenoids have been used to assess the past development of anoxia in water bodies (Brown et al 1984;Swain 1985;Repeta 1993;Sinninghe Damsté et al 1993;Lami et al 1994;Steenbergen et al 1994;Koopmans et al 1996;Steinman et al 1998;Chen et al 2001). These previous reports have dealt mostly with temporal changes deduced from the record of indicators in sediment cores.…”