Short-Term Variability of Lake Metabolism and the Importance of High-Frequency Measurements of Thermal Stratification

The production and consumption of organic carbon is a fundamental aspect of ecosystem functioning. These rates are referred to as ecosystem metabolism and are analogous to rates of growth and respiration of organisms. The measurement of ecosystem metabolism has been important in ecosystem research since the original work of Odum and Odum (1955) on the oxygen dynamics of coral reefs. Measurements of ecosystem metabolism continue today in many different systems including forests (Gough et al. 2009), grasslands (Adair et al. 2009), and estuaries (Gupta et al. 2009). This study focuses on the metabolism of lake ecosystems.

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