@article {4340, title = {The fate of C4 and C3 macrophyte carbon in central Amazon floodplain waters: Insights from a batch experiment}, journal = {Limnologica - Ecology and Management of Inland Waters}, volume = {59}, year = {2016}, pages = {90-98}, abstract = {

The central Amazon floodplains are particularly productive ecosystems, where a large diversity of organic carbon sources are available for aquatic organisms. Despite the fact that C4 macrophytes generally produce larger biomasses than C3 macrophytes, food webs in the central Amazon floodplains appear dominantly based on a C3 carbon source.

In order to investigate the respective fate and degradation patterns of C4 and C3 aquatic plant-derived material in central Amazon floodplains, we developed a 23-days batch experiment. Fatty acid and carbon concentrations as well as stable isotope compositions were monitored over time in 60\ L tanks. These tanks contained Amazon water, with different biomasses of C3 and C4 macrophyte, representative of in situ densities occurring in central Amazon floodplains.

In the C4Paspalum repens treatments, organic (POC, DOC) and inorganic carbon (DIC) got rapidly enriched in 13C, whereas in the C3Salvinia auriculata treatments, POC and DOC showed little change in concentration and isotopic composition, and DIC got depleted in 13C. The contribution of P. repens to POC and DOC was estimated to reach up to 94.2 and 70.7\%, respectively. In contrast, no differences were reported between the C3S. auriculata and control treatments, an observation attributed to the lower C3 biomass encountered in the field, to a slower degradation rate of C3 compared to C4 compounds, and to similar isotopic compositions for river POC and DOC, and C3 compounds.

The 13C enrichments of POC, DOC, and DIC from P. repens treatments were attributed to an enhanced bacterially-mediated hydrolysis and mineralization of C4 material. Evolutions of bacterial abundance and branched fatty acid concentrations confirmed the role of heterotrophic microbial communities in the high P. repens decomposition rate. Our experiment highlights the predominant role of C4 aquatic plants, as a large source of almost entirely biodegradable organic matter available for heterotrophic activity and CO2 outgassing to the atmosphere.

}, keywords = {Central amazon, Degradation, fatty acids, Floodplains, Macrophytes, Stables isotopes}, doi = {doi:10.1016/j.limno.2016.03.008}, author = {Jean-Michel Mortillaro and Passarelli, C and Gwena{\"e}l Abril and C{\'e}dric Hubas and Luis Felipe Artigas and Marc F Benedetti and Najet Thiney and Moreira-Turcq, P and P{\'e}rez, M A and Vidal, L and Tarik Meziane} } @article {4176, title = {Spatial and seasonal contrasts of sedimentary organic matter in floodplain lakes of the central Amazon basin}, journal = {Biogeosciences}, volume = {13}, year = {2016}, type = {original}, abstract = {


In this study, we investigated the seasonal and spatial pattern of sedimentary organic matter (SOM) in five floodplain lakes of the central Amazon basin (Cabaliana, Janauaca, Cana{\c c}ari, Mirituba and Curuai) which have different morphologies, hydrodynamics and vegetation coverages. Surface sediments were collected in four hydrological seasons: low water (LW), rising water (RW), high water (HW) and falling water (FW) in 2009 and 2010. We inves-tigated commonly used bulk geochemical tracers such as the C/N ratio and the stable isotopic composition of organic carbon (13Cor). These results were compared with lignin phenol parameters as an indicator of vascular plant detritus and branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) to trace the input of soil organic matter (OM) from land to the aquatic settings. We also applied the crenarchaeol as an indi- cator of aquatic (rivers and lakes) OM. Our data showed that during the RW and FW seasons, the surface sediments were enriched in lignin and brGDGTs in comparison to other seasons. Our study also indicated that floodplain lake sediments primarily consisted of allochthonous, C3 plant-derived OM. However, a downstream increase in C4 macrophyte-derivedOM contribution was observed along the gradient of increas-ing open waters {\textendash} i.e., from upstream to downstream. Accordingly, we attribute the temporal and spatial difference in SOM composition to the hydrological dynamics between the floodplain lakes and the surrounding flooded forests.

}, author = {Sobrinho, R L and Bernardes, Marcelo C and Gwena{\"e}l Abril and Kim, J-H and Zell, C and Jean-Michel Mortillaro and Tarik Meziane and Moreira-Turcq, P and J S Sinningh Damst{\'e}} }