Journal article

Publication year: 2021

Pages: 43-58

Journal: Basic and Applied Ecology

Volume number: 51

ISSN: 1439-1791

eISSN: 1618-0089

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2020.12.006

Publisher: Elsevier

Abstract: 
In an alluvial aquifer in the River Fulda Valley (Germany) the influence of agricultural inputs on the subterranean physical, chemical and biological relationships was examined. A 40-year-old (1977-1981) comprehensive data set on the groundwater microbiome plus metazoa was now analysed for the first time in full (measurements for up to 4 years: hydrological, chemical, physical, prokaryote, and metazoa characteristics). Four hydrogeochemically different groundwater zones were identified across the floodplain. In addition, the prokaryote (Archaea and Bacteria) and metazoan communities differed among the four zones. The hydraulic exchange between the alluvial aquifer and the River Fulda influenced the sites closest to the river, leading to the highest prokaryote and metazoan biomasses at these locations. An organic carbon plume zone of anthropogenic origin exhibited high prokaryote abundances and production, which were higher than in the surrounding mixing zone. This mixing zone represented a transition area to the river-influenced sites as well as to the fourth zone, which was characterized by high nutrient levels from intense agriculture and which exhibited low prokaryote abundance and activity and intermediate metazoan abundance. Despite high prokaryote productivity, metazoa did not favor the organic carbon plume, due probably to low oxygen concentrations. At the sites, where metazoa occurred, their biomass corresponded mostly to about one hundredth of the prokaryote biomass. The main implication from this new analysis of an old data set is that even on a coarse taxonomical resolution, patterns emerge that show - in a geologically homogeneous area - an unprecedented complexity among different groundwater zones resulting from different external influences of natural as well as anthropogenic origin. Future studies need to ascertain an adequate temporal and spatial resolution. (C) 2021 Gesellschaft fur Okologie. Published by Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Harvard Citation style: Marxsen, J., Ruetz, N. and Schmidt, S. (2021) Organic carbon and nutrients drive prokaryote and metazoan communities in a floodplain aquifer, Basic and Applied Ecology, 51, pp. 43-58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2020.12.006

APA Citation style: Marxsen, J., Ruetz, N., & Schmidt, S. (2021). Organic carbon and nutrients drive prokaryote and metazoan communities in a floodplain aquifer. Basic and Applied Ecology. 51, 43-58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2020.12.006