Collaborative Research: RUI: Terrestrial Carbon Subsidies of Aquatic Food Webs (RUI)

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Much of the organic carbon in lakes originates from surrounding terrestrial ecosystems.Degradation of this terrestrial carbon in lakes implies that lake food webs are potentiallysupported by external sources, rather than solely by internal primary production. Priorexperiments in small lakes using inorganic carbon-13 additions revealed significantterrestrial support of aquatic food webs. This project will directly address the relativeimportance of terrestrial support of food webs in lakes 4-10 times the size of lakesstudied previously. Carbon-13 will be added to two large lakes and analyzed withseveral models developed by the investigators. Results will determine the importanceterrestrial subsidies in these larger lakes that are in the top quartile for size in theNorthern Highlands of Wisconsin and Michigan and representative of a large class oftemperate lakes globally.This research will contribute to understanding lakes in a landscape context byassessing whether differences in lake size influence food webs and carbon cycling.Broader impacts of this project include promoting public understanding of lakeecosystems as well as research training for graduate and undergraduate students.Results will be incorporated into an ongoing outreach effort on the future of the NorthernHighland Lake District.