|
|
|
|
|
Michigan Ag News Headlines |
|
Study: Too Many Nutrients Make Microbes Less Responsive
Michigan Ag Connection - 12/13/2017
Bacteria in lakes play a key role in maintaining water quality by absorbing excess nitrogen and phosphorus. They also help store carbon, which has implications for our climate. But, as it turns out, their ability to do these tasks varies depending on the makeup of
the lake in which they live, according to a new study by University of Minnesota researchers that was funded by the National Science Foundation. In short, location matters most.
Phosphorus and nitrogen are two nutrients that, when added to lakes through runoff, cause them to become overgrown with algae and have other water quality problems. The study, published in ISME Journal, found that lakes with lots of nitrogen and
phosphorus seem to have bacteria in the water that are less responsive to additional nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon.
"In some ways, adding too much phosphorus and nitrogen to lakes is similar to what happens with Type II diabetes--our lakes are becoming less able to respond to increasing carbon just as humans with diabetes become less able to respond to insulin in their
body," says study author Jim Cotner, a professor at the University of Minnesota. "Too much of a good thing can lead to metabolic dysfunction that can be catastrophic."
Cotner and co-author Casey Godwin, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Michigan, collected individual bacterial species from 35 lakes throughout Minnesota. They investigated the characteristics of the bacteria present in each lake and examined
variables linked to how bacteria in lakes might respond to increased phosphorus and a warming planet.
Other work has shown that lakes with more phosphorus and nitrogen have different species of microbes, plants, insects, and animals than more pristine lakes, but this is the first study to show that the species in polluted lakes are less able to respond to further
added nutrients and perhaps more importantly, carbon. If more of the CO2 we produce is absorbed by microbes and plants in lakes, oceans, and other ecosystems, that means less CO2 will accumulate in Earth's atmosphere.
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 2024 - Farms.com. All Rights Reserved. |
|
|