117 search hits
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Interactions between hydrology and biogeochemistry within riparian wetlands
(2013)
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Sven Frei
- Interactions between hydrology and biogeochemistry at various spatio-temporal scales are important control mechanisms within terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and exist among different compartments and transition interfaces. Understanding the fundamental mechanistic couplings between hydrological and biogeochemical processes and how these couplings feed back into ecosystem services and functions is an interdisciplinary challenge that must be addressed especially in the context of humanly mediated climate change. Riparian wetlands, as a transition zone between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, occupy large fractions of terrestrial ecosystems and provide important ecohydrological services. Due to their anoxic environments, riparian wetlands are able to store significant amounts of carbon as peat and act as an effective nutrient sink e.g. for sulfur, phosphorous and nitrogen. Riparian wetlands are characterized by highly dynamical interactions between hydrologically controlled transport mechanisms and biogeochemically controlled substrate availability, which governs nutrient cycling as well as the sink and source functions of wetlands. Generally, these interactions and their potential implications on ecosystem functions are only poorly understood. The representation of the tight couplings between hydrology and biogeochemistry in mechanistic models is a very challenging task because they have revealed a complexity which is often beyond the capabilities of current models. The objective of this thesis is to investigate interactions between hydrology and biogeochemistry in riparian wetlands and to understand their potential implications for internal biogeochemical process distributions and solute mobilization. Additionally, one major focus of the thesis is the attempt to represent such fundamental couplings in a process-based, hydrological/biogeochemical modeling approach. To this end, this thesis uses a combination of field and virtual experiments, as well as catchment-scale numerical modeling, performed for the Lehstenbach catchment, which was exemplarily chosen as main study site.
Results from the virtual experiments show very complex small-scale hydrological dynamics within the riparian areas. Here, runoff generation processes are strongly influenced by the spatial structure of the wetland-typical micro-topography (hummocks and hollows). Surface flow is episodically generated by a highly dynamical, threshold-controlled process where extended surface flow networks drain large fractions of the wetland's area. During intensive rainstorm events these surface flow networks, which contribute to stream discharge due to a fill and spill mechanism, dominate runoff generation. These fast flow components are characterized by very low residence times (minutes to hours) and once they are activated, the surface flow networks are able to rapidly mobilize large amounts of solutes, like nitrate or dissolved organic carbon (DOC), out of the wetlands by bypassing deeper anoxic layers. The importance of fast flow components for the catchment-scale mobilization of DOC was further confirmed by field investigations and catchment-scale numerical modeling. High frequency measurements of DOC in runoff of the Lehstenbach catchment revealed that DOC export is subject to substantial short term variations at an hourly to daily timescale. During intense rainstorms, DOC concentrations are up to ten times higher (up to 40 mg/L) compared to low flow conditions (~3-5 mg/L). Short term variations together with the dramatic rise of DOC concentrations in runoff during rainstorms can be explained by the episodically activation of fast flow components in the wetland areas. At the catchment-scale, application of a hydraulic mixing-cell (HMC) methodology in combination with numerical modeling has revealed that fast flow components like saturated overland flow are exclusively generated in the wetland areas during intensive rainstorm events. On an annual basis, exemplarily for the hydrological year 2001, the HMC analysis quantified the relative contribution of saturated overland flow related to the total discharge with 19.5%, which highlights the importance of riparian wetlands for catchment-scale runoff generation.
Virtual experiments, additionally show that distinct shifts between surface and subsurface flow dominance, as a result of small-scale micro-topographic driven runoff generation in the wetlands, are responsible for very complex three-dimensional subsurface flow patterns showing a wide range of subsurface residence times. To investigate how these micro-topography induced subsurface flow patterns, together with the non-uniform hydrological and biogeogeochemical boundary conditions, affect the internal re-distribution and transformation of redox-sensitive species (like nitrate, sulfate or iron) a coupled hydrological/biogeogeochemical model was developed. In the model, wetland-typical biogeochemical processes are represented in a sequential stream tube approach where redox-sensitive processes are implemented as kinetic reactions. Simulations show the formation of local hot spots for redox-sensitive processes within the subsurface as a result of the complex subsurface flow paths and the transport-limited availability of electron acceptors and donors. Formation of hot spots was simulated for all key reduction processes including iron(III)-/sulfate reduction and denitrification as well as for the corresponding re-oxidation processes. These results offer a new perspective on hydrologically controlled biogeochemical transformation processes in riparian wetlands, which provides a dynamic framework to explain process heterogeneity in wetland soils and variability in process rates over space and time.
Findings from this thesis clearly prove how useful interdisciplinary approaches are in understanding processes and mechanisms in ecosystems and how important functions of ecosystems are affected by couplings among those. However, a lot of knowledge gaps still exist in understanding the nature of dependency between water and nutrient cycles across scales and how these interacting cycles feed back into humanly-mediated climate change in ecosystems. Development of new interdisciplinary methodologies and frameworks as well as an integrated way of thinking across the boundaries of the different environmental disciplines is necessary to address the grand challenges associated with climate change.
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Tibet Plateau Atmosphere-Ecology-Glaciology Cluster Joint Kobresia Ecosystem Experiment: Documentation of the second Intensive Observation Period, Summer 2012 in KEMA, Tibet
(2013)
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Tobias Biermann
- Experiment documentation of the second joined Kobresia ecosystem experiment conducted by the Atmosphere-Ecology-Glaciology Cluster within DFG SPP 1372 (Tibetan Plateau)in Kema, Tibet, China. The report provides background information about the field side, conducted measurements and participants.
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Applicability of weight-shift microlight aircraft for measuring the turbulent exchange above complex terrain
(2013)
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Stefan Metzger
- The possibility to reliably observe the exchange of heat and moisture between the land surface and the atmosphere is vital to our understanding of the regional and global cycling of energy and water. While ground-based flux measurements can be made continuously for long periods, they only represent a small landscape unit. On the other hand, aircraft-based measurements have the ability to directly measure the exchange over large areas. Especially over heterogeneous landscapes the spatio-temporal characteristics of both approaches complement each other. However, complex terrestrial ecosystems are sparsely investigated to date, in particular over topographically structured terrain. This can be attributed to; (i) limitations in the description of boundary layer processes over non-homogenous terrain, and (ii) a lack of applicable measurement platforms and techniques to study these processes. In pursue of a resolution strategy, this dissertation investigates the applicability of weight-shift microlight aircraft (WSMA) to gain new insights in the spatial variability of heat and moisture exchange over complex terrain.
WSMA are comparatively cheap in procurement and maintenance, and their unique structure provides exceptional transportability and climb rate. These structural features qualify the WSMA for terrain-following flight over complex and inaccessible terrain, but potentially influence measurements aboard the aircraft. In this dissertation a WSMA with a scientific payload enabling fast measurements of the 3D wind, temperature, water vapor concentration, position, and the radiative flux is used to;
(i) Quantify the WSMA wind measurement uncertainty. A novel time-domain procedure is developed, which improves the accuracy of the WSMA wind measurement by 63% for the horizontal- and 72% for the vertical wind components. The resulting precisions are ±0.09 m s−1 and ±0.04 m s−1, and the agreement with ground-based measurements is in the order of ±0.4 m s−1 and ±0.3 m s−1 (root mean square deviation), respectively.
(ii) Quantify the WSMA eddy-covariance flux measurement uncertainty. From uncertainty propagation the smallest resolvable changes in friction velocity (0.02 m s−1), and sensible- (5 W m−2) and latent (3 W m−2) heat flux are estimated. In comparison to tower measurements, the WSMA observes higher fluxes (17–21%). The differences are not statistically significant, and can be explained by the tower setup and non-propagating eddies.
(iii) Spatially resolve and regionalize the heat and moisture exchange above a complex landscape. Wavelet decomposition of the turbulence data is used to yield a flux observation each 90 m along the flight path. For each flux observation the biophysical surface properties in the flux footprint are determined. An environmental response function between the flux observations and biophysical and meteorological drivers is then inferred using a machine learning technique. This function is used to produce regional maps of the heat and moisture exchange to an accuracy of ≤18% and a precision of ≤5% for individual land covers.
Hence this dissertation provides the necessary basis for using WSMA to investigate the mechanisms of turbulent exchange over heterogeneous and topographically structured terrain. Moreover, the developed algorithms are generally applicable to (i) partitioning flux uncertainty and environmental variability, (ii) extrapolating flux measurements, (iii) assessing the spatial representativeness of long-term tower flux measurements, and (iv) designing, constraining and evaluating flux algorithms for remote sensing and numerical modeling applications.
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Heterogeneous chemistry of HONO and surface exchange
(2013)
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Matthias Sörgel
- Nitrous acid (HONO) is an important precursor of OH radicals, which are the key oxidizing species in the atmosphere and are therefore called the detergent of the atmosphere. Despite the importance of HONO for atmospheric chemistry and about 30 years of detailed research the exact formation mechanisms of both day- and night-time formation remain unclear. The main formation pathways discussed to date are heterogeneous reactions with nitrogen dioxide as the HONO precursor or microbiological activity in soil. As the ground surface is a major source of HONO, the vertical distribution of HONO is very sensitive to the extent of vertical mixing. Additionally, some uncertainty in comparing laboratory and field measurements might be caused by the not yet clarified role of relative humidity and surface wetness on HONO formation and deposition, respectively. These influences have been investigated in field measurements in the present study. For HONO measurements, LOng Path Absorption Photometers (LOPAPs) have been deployed.
During the Diel Oxidant Mechanism In relation to Nitrogen Oxides (DOMINO) campaign, HONO and other reactive trace gases were measured above a pine forest in south west Spain. In line with all recently published work, this study also found a substantial daytime formation of HONO. This so-called additional daytime source or unknown source was found to be slightly correlated (r² = 0.16) with actinic flux. Normalizing this unknown source to nitrogen dioxide mixing ratios improved the correlation (r² = 0.38), which indicates an influence of nitrogen dioxide availability. The coefficient of determination improved further to 0.47 by restricting the data to clear days and rejecting data from advection events. Thus, a fraction of the unknown source might be explained by light-induced nitrogen dioxide conversion but other factors have to be taken into account. Two processes of light-induced nitrogen dioxide conversion, proposed by recent laboratory studies, were shown to be negligible for the semirural conditions during our study. HONO photolysis was found to be the most important primary OH-radical source during DOMINO, contributing 20 % more OH than ozone photolysis integrated over the day.
Vertical exchange of HONO was studied at the “Waldstein-Weidenbrunnen” field site of the University of Bayreuth in the Fichtelgebirge Mountains in south east Germany. The simultaneous HONO measurements in and above a forest canopy highlighted the importance of turbulent exchange for the vertical distribution of HONO mixing ratios. The so-called coupling regimes of the forest (with the air layers above) were found to be a very useful micrometeorological concept to study vertical differences of mixing ratios in a forest. They denote which parts of the forest are coupled to the air layer above the canopy and thus take part in turbulent exchange of energy and matter. With this coupling tool it was possible to explain vertical mixing ratio differences by different sources and sinks and the magnitude of the difference by the intensity of vertical exchange. Studying the vertical mixing ratio differences of HONO, an unexpected result was that during late morning and around noon they were close to zero. As the lifetime of HONO below canopy of about 250 to 300 min was a factor of 25 to 30 longer than that above canopy of about 10 min, large mixing ratio differences would have been expected. The lack of these differences could be explained by efficient vertical mixing, which was indicated by a full coupling of the forest or a coupling by sweeps and only intermittent decoupling of the subcanopy during these periods. Around sunset, the whole forest became decoupled from the air layers above. This caused a steep increase in mixing ratio differences up to about 170 ppt due to a faster increase below canopy, indicating local formation below the canopy.
HONO and RH are correlated due to their diurnal cycles which are mainly caused by radiation. This diurnal contribution has to be removed from the respective signals in order to extract correlations on other timescales. Singular System Analysis, a tool for time series analysis, has been applied successfully to remove diurnal variations and long-term trends from the HONO and RH time series. Correlations of the higher frequency contributions of the remaining signals were poor but slightly positive. The HONO mixing ratios increase exponentially with RH from about 25 % RH to about 70 % RH. No clear correlation was found between around 70 and 95 % RH. Above 95 % RH, HONO mixing ratios decreased due to HONO uptake in droplets and liquid films. These features are in line with previously proposed mechanisms for interactions of water and HONO on surfaces.
The study highlighted the need to assess turbulent transport and surface properties in addition to chemistry for understanding the heterogeneous reactions and processes forming HONO.
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Rhizodeposition and its effects on C fluxes in the soil
(2013)
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Johanna Pausch
- Organic compounds released from living roots (rhizodeposits) are easily available sources of energy for microorganisms strongly affecting soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics. Although, rhizodeposition is a key driver of microbially mediated processes in the soils, it still remains the most uncertain component of the terrestrial carbon (C) cycle.
The input of C through rhizodeposition occurs in temporal and spatial hotspots. The objective of Study 1 was to determine the dynamics of hotspots of recently assimilated C in ryegrass roots. Shoots were 14CO2 pulse labeled and the allocation patterns at increasing time intervals were visualized by phosphor imaging. We could show a quick translocation of assimilated C to the roots. 14C hotspots were detected at the root tips already 6 hours after labeling. The hotspots remained active for at least 2 days. Eleven days after assimilation the hotspots at the tips had disappeared, and the 14C distribution was much more even than after 6 hours and 2 days.
Through the availability of rhizodeposits, hotspots create preferred habitats for microbes. Rhizodeposits are an important source of C and energy for microorganisms stimulating their growth and activity. Thereby, roots can influence the rate of native SOM decomposition in the rhizosphere. This rhizosphere priming effect (RPE) was reported to be plant-species specific. Therefore, we hypothesized that also plant inter-species interactions affect the RPE.
In Study 2, we used continuous 13CO2 labeling to investigate the RPE of monocultures and mixtures of typical agricultural crops. The RPE was consistently positive for all cultures with an increase of 43% - 136% above the unplanted soil. Of particular interest was the result that plant inter-species interactions between sunflower and wheat significantly reduced the RPE in contrast to mixtures which included soybean as a legume. It was argued that the RPE of the sunflower-wheat mixture was reduced through a more severe competition for nitrogen (N), whereas, due to the N-rich rhizodeposits of the legume and its lower demand for soil mineral N the RPE of the legume containing mixtures remained unaffected.
Besides potential plant-specific differences in the quality and quantity of rhizodeposits, also photosynthesis could control root exudation because of the fast transport of recently assimilated C to belowground pools. Taking both factors into account, in Studies 3 and 4 the effect of limited photosynthesis on the distribution of recently assimilated C, of stored C and of N was investigated. Based on 13C, 14C and 15N labeling of a legume and a non-legume we could demonstrate that high C and N demands of regrowing shoots after clipping led to a remobilization of stored C and N to the shoots. Additionally, recently assimilated C was retained in the regrowing shoots.
Shading, in contrast, did not induce a remobilization of stored C, since recently assimilated C obviously covered the demand of the shoots with lower growth rates. For both treatments lower amounts of recently assimilated C were observed in the belowground pools emphasizing the importance of the tight coupling of assimilation and belowground processes. Furthermore, different responses of clipping and shading of the legume and the non-legume could be detected for root-derived CO2.
The quantitative importance of rhizodeposition at field scale was determined in Study 5. We proposed a new approach for an improved quantification of rhizodeposition under field conditions taking into account the decomposed fraction of rhizodeposits. Based on a 14CO2 pulse labeling experiment under controlled conditions a rhizodeposition-to-root ratio was calculated and was applied to the root biomass of the field. The root biomass C of maize, sampled in July 2009, was 298±64 kg C ha-1. Gross rhizodeposition was 166±53 kg C ha-1.
With aging of SOM, the availability of C for microbial decomposition declines. In Study 6 the availability of younger relative to older C sources was assessed. The natural isotope abundances of 13C and 12C of SOM and CO2 were analyzed after a C3 to C4 vegetation change. The contribution of younger C, originating from the belowground C input by maize in the previous year, and that of older C sources, derived from the former C3 vegetation, to SOM and CO2 was determined. Comparing the proportions of younger and older C in SOM with that in CO2, we found that younger C was 7 times more available for microbial decomposition than older C pools.
In summary, this thesis extends the understanding of factors affecting rhizodeposition and of processes occurring at the soil-root interface. Furthermore, it presents a new method to quantify gross rhizodeposition at field scale. Although, we could gain insight in temporal changes of the availability of C pools for microbes, the ecological importance of C fluxes in the rhizosphere requires future research on this topic with regard to spatial and temporal predictions.
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Jahresbericht 2010-11 zum Förderprojekt 01879 Untersuchung der Veränderung der Konzentration von Luftbeimengungen und Treibhausgasen im hohen Fichtelgebirge 2007 – 2014
(2012)
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Thomas Foken
Lisa Dirks
- no abstract
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Beyond productivity- Effects of extreme weather events on ecosystem processes and biotic interactions
(2012)
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Julia Walter
- Under global climate change, extreme weather events, such as heat waves, drought or heavy rain spells, are projected to increase in magnitude and frequency. As these may affect vegetation and ecosystems more than gradual shifts in mean climatic parameters, investigating the consequences of extreme weather events recently became an important issue in climate change research. The main focus of most experiments investigating effects of extreme weather events on vegetation is on primary productivity. In our experiment in artificially planted communities, even an extreme drought of 1000-year recurrence did not have effects on above- or below-ground biomass production from 2005-2010.
Thus, the main objectives of this thesis were (1) to investigate if extreme weather events have an effect on ecosystem functions beyond productivity, (2) to test if such a high resistance or resilience in response to drought regarding productivity also exists in more naturally grown plant communities and (3) to further elucidate possible mechanisms of the surprisingly large stability of the plant communities.
To investigate these objectives, several experimental studies were conducted in artificially planted, as well as in naturally grown grassland communities and consequences of extreme weather events for ecosystem processes, such as decomposition and herbivory were investigated. In a pot experiment, it was studied, if grass plants react improved towards repeated drought when compared to a first drought and thus reveal a kind of drought memory. Such a memory might be one possible, but up until now widely neglected mechanism of resilience.
Even though biomass production remained stable in our experiment in artificially planted communities, biomass quality was severely affected by extreme drought, thereby strongly affecting the development of a herbivore caterpillar feeding on drought-exposed leaves. Further, plant compounds of the host plant depended on the composition of the plant community it was grown in. This in turn resulted in strong effects on the larval mortality of herbivores feeding on such plants.
In contrast to the study in artificially planted communities, aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) was reduced in naturally composed grassland in response to extreme rainfall variability, including an extreme drought followed by heavy rainfall. Forage quality was altered by drought. Furthermore, mowing frequency strongly altered forage quality and biomass production, but did not interact with rainfall variability and thus did neither buffer, nor amplify effects of extreme rainfall variability. Despite effects of rainfall variability on ANPP, grassland showed high resilience after drought followed by heavy rain, as effects were large shortly after the extreme event, but did not persist until a second harvest later in the year.
In natural grassland, rainfall variability and drought also affected ecosystem processes, here litter decomposition, beyond productivity. Drought followed by heavy rain pulses decreased decomposition rates. Decomposition in more frequently mown meadows was more vulnerable towards drought exposure. Winter warming and additional winter rain had no long-term effect on decomposition. To conclude, projected increases in drought frequency under climate change may inhibit decomposition and alter nutrient and carbon cycling along with soil quality in temperate grassland, whereas a reduction of snow cover leading to more variable soil surface temperatures may counteract increased decomposition under winter warming.
In this thesis, an ecological stress memory as one possible mechanism of resilience is defined as any response of a single plant after a stress experience that improves the reaction of the plant towards future stress experience and which is assessed on a whole plant level. This thesis further provides evidence of a drought memory in grass plants: Plants repeatedly subjected to drought showed improved photo-protection and a higher rate of living biomass when compared to plants faced with their first drought. Similarly, tree seedlings exposed to drought in summer revealed higher frost resistance during winter, providing evidence of a long-lasting “cross-stress-memory” .
To sum up, the thesis shows that extreme weather events, even though neither severely affecting biomass production in artificially composed, nor in naturally growing communities in the long-term, exert strong influence on physiological or biogeochemical parameters, such as plant compounds or soil biotic activity. These changes in turn modify ecosystem functions beyond productivity, for example herbivory or decomposition, possibly altering biotic interactions and nutrient cycling. Furthermore, the findings imply that plants exhibit a stress memory after stress exposure, which may be one mechanisms leading to a high stability and resilience upon frequent stress.
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The Nature of Fluids in Hydrothermal Copper and Molybdenum Ore Deposits - An experimental and analytical study
(2012)
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Linda Lerchbaumer
- The evolution of magmatic-hydrothermal fluids in porphyry Cu and porphyry Mo deposits was studied using synthetic and natural fluid inclusions by optical microscopy, microthermometry, Raman spectroscopy, and LA-ICP-MS.
The partitioning of Cu between vapor and brine in aqueous NaCl-S ± KCl ± FeCl2-rich fluids was investigated by means of hydrothermal experiments in rapid quench autoclaves at 600-800°C, 70-130 MPa and at both oxidizing and reducing fO2, covering all geologically relevant conditions. Resulting partition coefficients (DCuvap/brine) are between 0.2 and 0.4 for the range of studied S-concentrations, fluid pH, fO2, and P-T conditions. These values indicate that Cu does not partition into the vapor phase at any plausible condition in contrast to data from natural quartz-hosted vapor and brine inclusions which appear to indicate Cu enrichment in the vapor.
The formation of such Cu-rich vapor-type fluid inclusions was investigated in hydrothermal re-equilibration experiments. For this purpose, coexisting vapor and brine inclusions of known composition were re-equilibrated in a fluid of slightly different composition and lower pH than the trapped one at 800°C, 70-130 MPa. This procedure led to a dramatic increase in Cu concentrations in the vapor phase from 0.3 ± 0.03 to 5.7 ± 3.3 wt% after re-equilibration and the change of DCuvap/brine from a true value of 0.4 ± 0.05 to an apparent value of 8.3 ± 4.9. This post-entrapment modification can be traced back to the difference in fluid pH between the trapped and the surrounding fluid, inducing diffusion of H+ out of the inclusion and the diffusion of Cu+ (and Na+, Ag+) into the inclusion in order to maintain charge balance. Moreover, the presence of larger amounts of S within vapor inclusions as compared to brine inclusions can bind larger amounts of Cu. The re-equilibration of trails of vapor and brine inclusions in a natural quartz sample in a fluid similar to the trapped one, yet more acidic, showed that this modification process can be reversed, resulting in the loss of major amounts of Cu from natural vapor inclusions.
The composition of metal-bearing melts and magmatic fluids of Mo-mineralized granites resembling porphyry Mo deposits was investigated using natural melt-, fluid-, and solid-inclusions in quartz crystals found in miarolitic cavities from minor Mo-occurrences in Colorado and Norway. Melt inclusions from the Treasure Mountain Dome are highly enriched in Mo (4-43 ppm), also melt inclusions from the Drammen and Glitrevann granites (5-32 ppm, and 12 ppm, respectively), resembling highly fractionated melts. Copper concentrations are low (<1-30 ppm) in the melts, but high in the fluids: intermediate density, supercritical fluid inclusions of these three locations host 6-1900 ppm, 8-3500 ppm, and 5-180 ppm Cu, respectively. The comparison of these results with data from economic porphyry Mo and porphyry Cu (Mo, Au) deposits shows no difference in Mo concentrations in the particular melts and fluids. Hence, other factors probably control the evolution of a granitic intrusion into large, economic Mo deposits, minor Mo occurrences, or just into barren plutons. These may be mainly the size, position, and geometry of the parental magma chamber, the multiplicity of intrusions maintaining a constant flux of metalliferous, S-rich, hot melts, and the extent of fluid focusing within small rock volumes forming high-grade ore shells.
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Denying access to water? Moral values and commercialization policies in Khartoum governmental water management
(2012)
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Anne-Sophie Beckedorf
- This contribution draws on empirical fieldwork carried out in Khartoum/Sudan in 2009/2010 in order to examine the role of value systems in recent commercialization policies of Khartoum governmental water management. The first section provides background information about the current water supply system in Khartoum, which is a necessary precondition to understand current reform processes. The second section singles out three major aspects of commercialization policies and their contestations in greater detail: increases in water prices, increases in water cuts in case of unpaid water bills, and installations of prepaid water meters. The third section summarizes these contestations and argues that value systems are one major reason why current reform processes are not implemented in the way they were perceived.
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Copper exposure of freshwater mussels (Anodonta anatina): Some physiological effects
(2012)
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Andhika Puspito Nugroho
- Copper (Cu), a transition metal, has the tendency to increase in its concentration in freshwater ecosystems over natural levels, due to industrial and other anthropogenic sources. In water, copper can exist in dissolved form or associated with suspended food particles. Freshwater mussels living at the interface of the free-flowing water and the sediment phase can take up copper directly from the water or by consumption of lower trophic level organisms laden with copper. For mussels, copper is essential at low concentration as cofactor of metalloenzymes involved in growth regulation and development, but it may be toxic at higher levels by disturbing calcium (Ca) homeostasis. The duck mussel Anodonta anatina is a freshwater species found in abundance in limnic and lotic European ecosystems and is used as test organism in ecotoxicological studies. The potential involvement of Cu in the general decline of many European freshwater mussel species is the major motivation for this work. This research aims to study the relevance of Cu exposure pathways on its uptake, distribution, bioaccumulation, and elimination in the freshwater mussel A. anatina and its various potential physiological impacts. The work is started with raising Cu-loaded algae using the stable isotope 63Cu as marker for feeding of mussels without affecting the nutritional value of the algal food. In these latter experiments, mussels are exposed to 63Cu via water or via food to investigate the relative importance of Cu uptake to its distribution and accumulation among the mussel’s organs. Its consequences on calcium homeostasis, soluble carbohydrate and protein levels in various tissues, metallothionein induction, glutathione levels, activities of antioxidative enzymes and glutathione reductase, and on lipid peroxidation are examined. In the algal experiment, Parachlorella kessleri is grown at six 63Cu concentrations (0, 5.9, 11.7, 23.5, 47, and 94 µmol L-1) for 4 days, starting from day 3. When exposed to Cu at a level of up to 6 µmol L-1, P. kessleri is largely unchanged in its nutritional values; so this concentration is used to grow 63Cu-carrying food for mussel experiment. Concentrations above 6 µmol L-1 decrease significantly in the algal growth and alter the other physiological parameters. Three groups of 21 mussels each are used, one as control and two for exposure, receiving copper as the stable isotope 63Cu via the water at 0.3 µmol L-1 or via the food (1.5 mg L-1 freeze-dried Cu-loaded algae, equivalent to 0.06 µmol L-1 Cu) for 24 days, followed by 12 days of depuration. For analysis, three mussels each are taken randomly from every group at days 0, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36. The mussels are anaesthetized and hemolymph and extrapallial fluid are sampled before the mussels are dissected into gills, mantle, kidney, digestive gland, foot, adductors, intestines, and the remainder (gonads, heart, and labial palps). During copper exposure, the levels of exogenous copper (63Cu) and total Cu increase in all body compartments. Uptake via the water leads to higher Cu levels than via the food, but in relative terms food uptake is more efficient taking the five-fold lower nominal concentration of copper into consideration. Upon exposure via the water, the metal is compartmentalized mainly in the mantle, the gills, and the digestive gland, upon exposure via the food the major recipients are the digestive gland and the intestines. Upon depuration for two weeks, copper is quickly but not completely eliminated. Simultaneously with increasing Cu levels, Ca levels are increased in all body compartments, accompanied by decreases in soluble carbohydrates and proteins in the gills, mantle, digestive gland, and kidney. At the same time, Cu exposure results in increases in malondialdehyde levels, decreases in glutathione levels, strong increases in metallothionein levels, and changes in the activities of the antioxidative enzymes superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidise, and of glutathione reductase in the gills, mantle, digestive gland, and kidney. During depuration, most parameters tend to normalize but do not return to control values. In conclusion, the overall pictures suggest that the considerable physiological stress elicited by low-level copper exposure may contribute to the factors involved in the decline of many European freshwater mussels.
