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The relationship between the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration in Brazilian lakes, encompassing 225 samples across a wide latitudinal range in the tropics, was tested. Unlike the positive relationship reported for lake waters, which was largely based on temperate lakes, we found no significant relationship for tropical and subtropical Brazilian lakes, despite very broad ranges in both pCO2 and DOC. Closer examination showed that the strength of pCO2 vs. DOC relationships declines with increasing water temperature, suggesting substantial differences in carbon cycling in warm lakes, which must be considered when upscaling limnetic carbon cycling to global scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypoxia is a well-recognized condition reducing biodiversity and increasing greenhouse gases emissions in aquatic ecosystems, especially under warmer temperatures of tropical waters. Anoxia is a natural event commonly intensified by human-induced organic inputs in inland waters. Here, we assessed the partial pressure of O2 (pO2) and CO2 (pCO2) and the ratio between both (represented by the respiration index, RI) in two oligotrophic lakes of the Atlantic Tropical Forest, encompassing dry and rainy seasons over 19 months. We formulated the hypothesis that thermal stratification events could be coupled to natural hypoxia in deep waters of both lakes. Our results indicated a persistence of CO2 emissions from these tropical lakes to the atmosphere, on average ± standard error (SE), 2.3 (±0.3) mmolm-2 h-1 probably subsided by terrestrial C inputs from the forest. Additionally, the thermal stratification during the end of the dry season and the rainy summer was coupled to anoxic events and very low RI in deep waters, and to significantly higher pO2 and RI at the surface (about 20 000 µatm and 1.0, respectively). In contrast, the water mixing during dry seasons in the beginning of the winter was related to a strong destratification in pO2, pCO2 and RI in surface and deep waters, without reaching any anoxic conditions throughout the water column. These findings confirm our hypothesis, suggesting that lakes of the Atlantic Tropical Forest could be dynamic, but especially sensitive to organic inputs. Natural anoxic events indicate that tropical oligotrophic lakes might be highly influenced by human land uses, which increase organic discharges into the watershed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The variation of surface partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2), pH, salinity and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in 12 coastal Brazilian lakes was examined following periods of contrasting rainfall. It was tested the hypothesis of a positive relationship of rainfall and the associated transport of terrestrial carbon with pCO2 in tropical lakes. High rainfall was followed by a large, almost 10 fold increase in pCO2 and a one unit decrease in pH in the lakes, whereas no consistent changes in DOC were observed. CO2 emissions to the atmosphere from the Brazilian coastal lakes studied here were enhanced, on average, almost 10 fold, from 28.5±6.0 mmolm-2 d-1 in drier periods to 245.3.1±51.5 mmolm-2 d-1 following heavy rain. Hence, precipitation and subsequent ventilation of groundwater CO2 in lakes might provide an important conduit to deliver CO2 resulting from soil respiration to the atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]