title: Invasive floating macrophytes reduce greenhouse gas emissions from a small tropical lake.
abstract: Floating macrophytes, including water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), are dominant invasive organisms in tropical aquatic systems, and they may play an important role in modifying the gas exchange between water and the atmosphere. However, these systems are underrepresented in global datasets of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study investigated the carbon (C) turnover and GHG emissions from a small (0.6 km(2)) water-harvesting lake in South India and analysed the effect of floating macrophytes on these emissions. We measured carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emissions with gas chambers in the field as well as water C mineralization rates and physicochemical variables in both the open water and in water within stands of water hyacinths. The CO2 and CH4 emissions from areas covered by water hyacinths were reduced by 57% compared with that of open water. However, the C mineralization rates were not significantly different in the water between the two areas. We conclude that the increased invasion of water hyacinths and other floating macrophytes has the potential to change GHG emissions, a process that might be relevant in regional C budgets.
authors: Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Chemical Analytics and Biogeochemistry, Müggelseedamm 310, 12587 Berlin, Germany.
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Attermeyer
authors: Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Chemical Analytics and Biogeochemistry, Müggelseedamm 310, 12587 Berlin, Germany.|University of Geneva, Faculty of Science, Boulevard Carl-Vogt 66, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Flury
authors: Indo-German Centre for Sustainability (IGCS), Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), Chennai 600 036, India.|Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Division, Department of Civil Engineering, Chennai 600 036, India.
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Jayakumar
authors: University of Augsburg, Department of Geography, Alter Postweg 118, 86159 Augsburg, Germany.
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Fiener
authors: Indo-German Centre for Sustainability (IGCS), Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), Chennai 600 036, India.
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Steger
authors: Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Division, Department of Civil Engineering, Chennai 600 036, India.
authors: V
authors: V
authors: Arya
authors: Brandenburg University of Technology (BTU), Chair of Soil Protection and Recultivation, Konrad-Wachsmann-Allee 6, 03013 Cottbus, Germany.
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Wilken
authors: Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Schlossgarten 5, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
authors: R
authors: R
authors: van Geldern
authors: Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Chemical Analytics and Biogeochemistry, Müggelseedamm 310, 12587 Berlin, Germany.|Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Institute for Landscape Biogeochemistry, Eberswalder Straße 84, 15374 Müncheberg, Germany.
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Premke
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000378:metabolism; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005740:Gases / Q000378:metabolism*; D017752:Greenhouse Effect; D031423:Hyacinthus / Q000378:metabolism*; D060106:Lakes / Q000032:analysis*; D008697:Methane / Q000032:analysis; D010100:Oxygen / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D005740:Gases; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D002244:Carbon; D008697:Methane; D010100:Oxygen