Consequences of respiration in the light on the determination of production in pelagic systems

Abstract

Oxygen microprobes were used to estimate Community Respiration (R), Net Community Production (NCP) and Gross Primary Production (GPP) in coastal seawater samples. Using this highly stable and reproducible technique to measure oxygen change during alternating dark and light periods, we show that respiration in the light could account for up to 640% of respiration in the dark. The light enhanced dark respiration can remain elevated for several hours following a 12 h period of illumination. Not including Rlight into calculations of production leads to an underestimation of GPP, which can reach up to 650% in net heterotrophic systems. The production: respiration (P:R) ratio is in turn affected by the higher respiration rates and by the underestimation of GPP. While the integration of Rlight into the calculation of P:R ratio does not change the metabolic balance of the system, it decreases the observed tendency, thus net autotrophic systems become less autotrophic and net heterotrophic systems become less heterotrophic. As a consequence, we propose that efforts have to be focused on the estimation and the integration of Rlight into the determination of GPP and R for a better understanding of the aquatic carbon cycle.