Benthic primary production decreases internal phosphorus loading from lake sediments under light supplement.

In aquatic ecosystems, light penetrating the sediment surface in shallow lakes may regulate the internal phosphorus (P) release through benthic primary production, which subsequently affects oxidation, pH levels, and alkaline phosphatase activity in the upper sediment. To study the effects of light exposure on the P dynamics at the sediment-water interface under eutrophic conditions, a two-month mesocosm experiment was conducted in twelve cement tanks (1000 L each). The tanks were equipped with Light-Emitting Diode (LED) lights, and surface sediments collected from eutrophic Lake Nanhu (China) were exposed to four different light intensities (0, 50, 100, 200 µmol m-2 s-1). The results revealed that: 1) Both the total phosphorus concentration and the phosphorus release flux from the sediment were lower in the light treatments (mean value, 0.59-0.71 mg L-1 and 0.00-0.01 mg m-2 d-1, respectively) than in the control treatment (0.77 mg L-1 and 0.01 mg m-2 d-1, respectively), indicating that light supplement could decrease the internal P release. 2) Benthic primary production promoted by light directly absorbed soluble reactive phosphorus and decreased the internal P release. The resulting improved production could also increase dissolved oxygen concentrations at the sediment-water interface, thus indirectly inhibiting internal P release. 3) The relative contributions of direct absorption and indirect inhibition on the internal P release ranged between 23% to 69% and 31% to 77% depending on the light intensity.

[Comparison of EC/OC in PM2.5 between filter sampling off-line analysis and in situ on-line measurement].

Elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) in PM2.5 were measured simultaneously at the campus of Peking University from January 2006 to April 2007 by two common used methodologies. One is quartz filter sampling followed by off-line SUNSET Lab EC/OC analyzer and the other is SUNSET in-situ on-line EC/OC analyzer. The comparison shows significant differences on OC measurements between the two methods. The results by filter sampling off-line analysis were as twice high as those by in-situ on-line method. The volatile organic carbons (VOCs) adsorbed by quartz filter led to considerable positive error of OC. The use of parallel plate organic denuder can eliminate such error but cause the evaporation of semi-volatile organic carbon on the filter which induces another negative error of OC, about 10%. The improved method of filter sampling off-line analysis using both parallel plate organic denuder and backup filter has a good agreement with in-situ online measurement.