Aquatic Ecosystems: Interactivity of Dissolved Organic Matter

Aquatic Ecosystems explains the interplay between various movements of matter and energy through ecosystems mediated by Dissolved Organic Matter. This book provides information on how much DOM there is in a particular aquatic ecosystem and where it originates. It explains whether the DOM composition varies from time to time and place to place. It also details how DOM becomes incorporated into microbial food webs, and gives a better, clarifying, understanding to its significance of DOM.

There are many ways to study DOM and this book focuses on several central questions: How much DOM is there in a particular aquatic ecosytem? Where does it come from? Does the composition of the DOM vary from time to time and place to palce?How does DOM become incorporated into microbial food webs, which are the basis of plant, invertebrate and vertebrate food webs?How can the answers to these and other questions about DOM be considered together so that a better understanding of the significance of DOM can emerge?

Section I: Sources and Composition
Supply of DOM to Aquatic Ecosystems: Autochthonous Sources.
Sources, Production and Regulation of Allochthonous Dissolved Organic Matter Inputs to Surface Waters.
Trace Organic Moieties of Dissolved Organic Material in Natural Waters.
The Role of Monomers in Stream Ecosystem Metabolism.
Molecular Indicators of the Bioavailability of Dissolved Organic Matter.
Large-Scale Patterns in DOC Concentration, Flux, and Sources.
The Speciation of Hydrophobic Organic Compounds by Dissolved Organic Matter.
Elemental Complexation by Dissolved Organic Matter in Lakes: Implications for Fe Speciation and the Bioavailability of Fe and P.

Section II: Transformation and Regulation
The Contribution of Monomers and Other Low Molecular Weight Compounds to the Flux of DOM in Aquatic Ecosystems.
Photochemically-Mediated Linkages Between Dissolved Organic Matter and Bacterioplankton.
The Importance of Organic Nitrogen Production in Aquatic Systems: A Landscape Perspective.
The Role of Biofilms in the Uptake and Transformation of Dissolved Organic Matter.
Microbial Extracellular Enzymes and Their Role in DOM Cycling.
Linkages between DOM Composition and Bacterial Community Structure.
Bacterial Response to Variation in Dissolved Organic Matter.

Section III: Approaches to Synthesis
Physiological Models in the Context of Microbial Food Webs.
Patterns in DOM Iability and Consumption across Aquatic Systems.
Integrating DOM Metabolism and Microbial Diversity: An Overview of Conceptual Models.
Dissolved Organic Carbon: Detrital Energetics, Metabolic Regulators, and Drivers of Ecosystem Stability of Aquatic Ecosystems.
Synthesis.