@article{BrothersHiltAttermeyeretal.2013, author = {Brothers, Soren M. and Hilt, Sabine and Attermeyer, Katrin and Grossart, Hans-Peter and Kosten, Sarian and Lischke, Betty and Mehner, Thomas and Meyer, Nils and Scharnweber, Inga Kristin and K{\"o}hler, Jan}, title = {A regime shift from macrophyte to phytoplankton dominance enhances carbon burial in a shallow, eutrophic lake}, series = {Ecosphere : the magazine of the International Ecology University}, volume = {4}, journal = {Ecosphere : the magazine of the International Ecology University}, number = {11}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Washington}, issn = {2150-8925}, doi = {10.1890/ES13-00247.1}, pages = {17}, year = {2013}, abstract = {Ecological regime shifts and carbon cycling in aquatic systems have both been subject to increasing attention in recent years, yet the direct connection between these topics has remained poorly understood. A four-fold increase in sedimentation rates was observed within the past 50 years in a shallow eutrophic lake with no surface in-or outflows. This change coincided with an ecological regime shift involving the complete loss of submerged macrophytes, leading to a more turbid, phytoplankton-dominated state. To determine whether the increase in carbon (C) burial resulted from a comprehensive transformation of C cycling pathways in parallel to this regime shift, we compared the annual C balances (mass balance and ecosystem budget) of this turbid lake to a similar nearby lake with submerged macrophytes, a higher transparency, and similar nutrient concentrations. C balances indicated that roughly 80\% of the C input was permanently buried in the turbid lake sediments, compared to 40\% in the clearer macrophyte-dominated lake. This was due to a higher measured C burial efficiency in the turbid lake, which could be explained by lower benthic C mineralization rates. These lower mineralization rates were associated with a decrease in benthic oxygen availability coinciding with the loss of submerged macrophytes. In contrast to previous assumptions that a regime shift to phytoplankton dominance decreases lake heterotrophy by boosting whole-lake primary production, our results suggest that an equivalent net metabolic shift may also result from lower C mineralization rates in a shallow, turbid lake. The widespread occurrence of such shifts may thus fundamentally alter the role of shallow lakes in the global C cycle, away from channeling terrestrial C to the atmosphere and towards burying an increasing amount of C.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Dethloff2013, author = {Dethloff, Frederik}, title = {In vivo 13C stable isotope tracing of single leaf development in the cold}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-70486}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, year = {2013}, abstract = {Measuring the metabolite profile of plants can be a strong phenotyping tool, but the changes of metabolite pool sizes are often difficult to interpret, not least because metabolite pool sizes may stay constant while carbon flows are altered and vice versa. Hence, measuring the carbon allocation of metabolites enables a better understanding of the metabolic phenotype. The main challenge of such measurements is the in vivo integration of a stable or radioactive label into a plant without perturbation of the system. To follow the carbon flow of a precursor metabolite, a method is developed in this work that is based on metabolite profiling of primary metabolites measured with a mass spectrometer preceded by a gas chromatograph (Wagner et al. 2003; Erban et al. 2007; Dethloff et al. submitted). This method generates stable isotope profiling data, besides conventional metabolite profiling data. In order to allow the feeding of a 13C sucrose solution into the plant, a petiole and a hypocotyl feeding assay are developed. To enable the processing of large numbers of single leaf samples, their preparation and extraction are simplified and optimised. The metabolite profiles of primary metabolites are measured, and a simple relative calculation is done to gain information on carbon allocation from 13C sucrose. This method is tested examining single leaves of one rosette in different developmental stages, both metabolically and regarding carbon allocation from 13C sucrose. It is revealed that some metabolite pool sizes and 13C pools are tightly associated to relative leaf growth, i.e. to the developmental stage of the leaf. Fumaric acid turns out to be the most interesting candidate for further studies because pool size and 13C pool diverge considerably. In addition, the analyses are also performed on plants grown in the cold, and the initial results show a different metabolite pool size pattern across single leaves of one Arabidopsis rosette, compared to the plants grown under normal temperatures. Lastly, in situ expression of REIL genes in the cold is examined using promotor-GUS plants. Initial results suggest that single leaf metabolite profiles of reil2 differ from those of the WT.}, language = {en} } @misc{WagnerHillebrandWackeretal.2013, author = {Wagner, Nicole D. and Hillebrand, Helmut and Wacker, Alexander and Frost, Paul C.}, title = {Nutritional indicators and their uses in ecology}, series = {Ecology letters}, volume = {16}, journal = {Ecology letters}, number = {4}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {1461-023X}, doi = {10.1111/ele.12067}, pages = {535 -- 544}, year = {2013}, abstract = {The nutrition of animal consumers is an important regulator of ecological processes due to its effects on their physiology, life-history and behaviour. Understanding the ecological effects of poor nutrition depends on correctly diagnosing the nature and strength of nutritional limitation. Despite the need to assess nutritional limitation, current approaches to delineating nutritional constraints can be non-specific and imprecise. Here, we consider the need and potential to develop new complementary approaches to the study of nutritional constraints on animal consumers by studying and using a suite of established and emerging biochemical and molecular responses. These nutritional indicators include gene expression, transcript regulators, protein profiling and activity, and gross biochemical and elemental composition. The potential applications of nutritional indicators to ecological studies are highlighted to demonstrate the value that this approach would have to future studies in community and ecosystem ecology.}, language = {en} }