Rates of oxygen uptake by the planktonic community of a shallow equatorial lake (Lake George, Uganda)

Abstract

Community respiration rates of the plankton in the upper meter of a shallow equatorial lake (Lake George, Uganda) show diurnal fluctuations within the range 1 to 4.5 mg O₂/mg chlorophyll a · h. In the deeper water, below the euphotic zone, rates show less variation and approximate to a value of 1 mg O₂/mg chl a · h. Comparative field and laboratory measurements of the relationship between community respiration and temperature indicate that the diurnal variation observed is not a simple function of temperature variation. Field measurements suggest that the rate of community respiration tends to increase, in a non-linear manner, as the daily cumulative photosynthesis per unit population increases. A series of laboratory experiments are described which attempt to fractionate, by chemical means, the oxygen uptake due to phytoplankton, bacteria and zooplankton. Although the results were very variable they indicate that somewhere between 10 and 50% of the total oxygen uptake is due non-algal material. The influence of these findings on calculations of net daily photosynthesis is discussed.