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Focuses on the phytoplankton population of acidic mining lakes of Lusatia, Germany having a hydrogen ion concentration of three. Presence of high concentration of iron in the lakes; Dominance of flagellates in the planktonic algal flora.

1. The existence of two different D-glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenases in Pseudomonas fluorescens has been demonstrated. Based on their different specificity and their different metabolic regulation one enzyme is appointed to the Entner-Doudoroff pathway and the other to the hexose monophosphate pathway. 2. A procedure is described for the isolation of that D-glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase which forms part of the Entner-Doudoroff pathway (Entner-Doudoroff enzyme). A 950-fold purification was achieved with an overall yield of 44%. The final preparation, having a specific activity of about 300 μmol NADH formed per min per mg protein, was shown to be homogeneous. 3. The molecular weight of the Entner-Doudoroff enzyme has been determined to be 220000 by gel permeation chromatography, and that of the other enzyme (Zwischenferment) has been shown to be 265000. 4. The pI of the Entner-Doudoroff enzyme has been shown to be 5.24 and that of the Zwischenferment 4.27. The Entner-Doudoroff enzyme is stable in the range of pH 6 to 10.5 and shows its maximal activity at pH 8.9. 5. The Entner-Doudoroff enzyme showed specificity for NAD+ as well as for NADP+ and exhibited homotropic effects for D-glucose 6-phosphate. It is inhibited by ATP which acts as a negative allosteric effector. Other nucleoside triphosphates as well as ADP are also inhibitory. 6. The enzyme catalyzes the transfer of the axial hydrogen at carbon-1 of β-D-glucopyranose 6-phosphate to the si face of carbon-4 of the nicotinamide ring and must be classified as B-side stereospecific dehydrogenase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lake Plessa 107 is an example of the older, relatively small and often shallow mining lakes of Lusatia which only have groundwater inflow. From a morphological point of view, the lake should be polymictic with short stratified periods. But besides temperature, mixing is alsodetermined by chemical gradients in the water column that can lead up to monomixis. The lake water shows an extreme acidification with high concentrations of calcium, iron, aluminium, manganese and sulphate. Despite low TIC and TP concentrations allowing only a low primary production in the pelagial within the oligotrophic range, anoxic conditions can occur during stratification because of Fe(II) oxidation andanoxic groundwater inflow. The phytoplankton is dominated by phytoflagellates. Chlorophyll concentrations follow a yearly pattern determined by temperature and light availability. The zooplankton consists of two rotifer species, ciliates and heliozoans. Sediment analyses show contrary depth gradients of Fe and P with a very high fraction of Fe in the upper sediment layers (up to 60% of DW) which decreases withdepth. Probably due to groundwater inflow, at some sites substantialdecreases in redox potential and conductivity can be observed with increasing sediment depth accompanied by increases of pH, DOC, DIC andDIP concentrations. No correlations have been found between the available phosphorus or carbon concentrations in the sediment porewater and the phytobenthic biomass. Euglena mutabilis (Euglenophyceae) and Pinnularia acoricola (Bacillariophyceae) are the dominant phytobenthicspecies. Lake Plessa 107 has a benthic food-web that consists of benthic algae, chironomids and corixids and a pelagic food-web which is composed of phytoflagellates, rotifers, ciliates and heliozoans. The two food-webs are not coupled because larger prey organisms such as crustaceans are missing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-three extremely acidic (pH between 2.5 and 3.5) mining lakes in Lusatia (Germany) were analyzed in order to classify their hydrochemistries and to assist the understanding of phytoplankton colonization of these extreme environments. Neither morphometric nor physical parameters influence phytoplankton composition but determine the extent to which the nutrient supply supports the mass development of Chrysophyceae and Chlorophyceae in certain layers of the water (hypo- or epilimnetic chlorophyll maxima and short mass developments). Conventional trophic classification is not readily applicable to these lakes but a chemical classification on the basis of hydrogen, total iron andacidity is proposed. Species of Ochromonas and Chlamydomonas dominate the phytoplankton in fourteen of the most acid lakes; dinoflagellates occurre additionally in four; a more diverse algal assemblage withdiatoms and cryptophytes is found in lakes with moderately acidic (pH 5.7-7.0) or alkaline conditions (pH 7.0-9.4). The lake chemistry isthe main determinant for the planktonic composition of the water bodies whereas the trophic state mainly determines the level of algal biomass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]