ArticleBiogeochemistry2025
Ironing out the question: what is limiting cyanobacteria in freshwater lakes in the Prairie Pothole Region?
Article in Biogeochemistry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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4 authors.
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Abstract
The Canadian Prairie Pothole Region is a notable hotspot for cyanobacteria-dominated lakes. This study found minor variations in cyanobacterial genera across these lakes yet observed significant differences in standing biomass, as the lakes ranged from oligotrophic to hypereutrophic classifications. A correlational analysis of nutrients, specifically total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN) revealed that the limiting nutrients varied considerably across the region. Of the lakes studied, cyanobacterial biomass was P-limited in 21 lakes, N-limited in 3 lakes, and co-limited by both P and N in 23 lakes. Surprisingly, in 32 lakes, the biomass was limited by neither P nor N. In these lakes, iron (Fe) emerged as the most likely limiting nutrient, given a relatively narrow range of free ferric Fe (pFe) between 18 and 26. Cyanobacteria can create biomass under Fe stress by producing Fe-scavenging siderophores that target pFe. However, in neither P- nor N-limited lakes, there was a lack of correlation between siderophore concentrations and cyanobacterial biomass (r = 0.05), indicating that the siderophores were unable to scavenge Fe and thereby utilize the available P and N to produce further cyanobacterial biomass. Our findings suggest that these Fe-starved eutrophic lakes exhibited a paradox of slow-growing yet high cyanobacterial biomass, challenging the notion that only oligotrophic lakes embody slow-growing metabolisms. Overall, our study highlights the importance of considering nutrient limitations on cyanobacterial growth and incorporating macro- (P and N) and micro- (Fe) nutrient limitation considerations into existing nutrient management strategies to mitigate cyanobacterial dominance effectively. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10533-025-01234-7.
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