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Nitrogen cycling in freshwater ecosystems using stable isotopes (¹⁵N, ¹³C)

Initially the acute and long term impact of pesticides derived from the catchment of Lake Balaton on the mortality and reproduction of freshwater invertebrates specifically on zooplankton were investigated. Freshwater molluscs were used in monitoring heavy metal pollution of the lake; cadmium uptake and depuration in different organs of invertebrates were studied.

Investigations of the nitrogen cycling in the lake were started from the eighties when the water quality of Lake Balaton was endangered by eutrophication. During this works the uptake of different forms of combined nitrogen (ammonium, nitrate and urea) by phytoplankton, their interaction, the relationship between nitrogen uptake and fixation of blue-green algae were established. Current investigations include ammonium regeneration in the water column and sediment and influences on the processes controlling the internal nitrogen supply of the lake. This is potentially providing novel approaches for managing and evaluating the progress of oligotrophication in the lake. The measurements were done by using the stable nitrogen isotope technique.

The changes of stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen are widely used in numerous investigation of the lake ecosystem: in the fate of organic matter produced by algae, in decomposition processes of reed, in origin of dissolved humic substances and in several food weeb interactions.

PRÉSING M. (1981) On the effects of Dikonirt (sodium salt of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxi-acetic acid) on the mortality and reproduction of Daphnia magna. – Hydrobiologia 83, 511-516. 

PRÉSING M., VÉRÓ M. (1983) A new method for determining the heart beat rate of Daphnia magna. – Water Research 17, 1245-1248.

PRÉSING M., PONYI J. (1986) Studies on the acute and chronic effect of 2,4-D-containing herbicide (Dikonirt) on Eudiaptomus gracilis (G.O. Sars) (Crustacea, Copepoda). – Arch. Hydrobiol. 106, 275-286.

PRÉSING M. (1989) Data to the toxic effect of K-Othrine on crustaceans. – Arch Hydrobiol. 114, 621-629.

PRÉSING M., V.-BALOGH K., SALÁNKI J. (1993) Cadmium uptake and depuration in different organs of Lymnaea stagnalis L. and the effect of cadmium on the natural zinc level. – Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 24, 28-34.

PRÉSING M. (1994) Influence of an insecticide, K-Othrine, on the reproduction and mortality of the pond snail. (Lymnaea stagnalis L.). – Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 25, 387-393.

PRESTON T., BURY S., PRÉSING M., MONCOIFFE G., SLATER C. (1996) Isotope dilution analysis of combined nitrogen in natural waters: I. Ammonium. – Rapid Comm. in Mass Spectrometry 10, 959-964.

PRÉSING M., HERODEK S., VÖRÖS L., KÓBOR I. (1996) Nitrogen fixation, ammonium and nitrate uptake during a bloom of Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii in Lake Balaton. – Arch. Hydrobiol. 136, 553-562.

PRÉSING M., V.-BALOGH K., VÖRÖS L., SHAFIK H.M. (1997) Relative nitrogen deficiency without occurrence of nitrogen fixing blue-green algae in a hypertrophic reservoir. – Hydrobiologia 342/343, 55-61.

V.-BALOGH K., PRÉSING M., HIRIPI L., VÖRÖS L. (1998) Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of dissolved humic substances in a shallow reservoir covered by macrophytes. – Internat. Rev. Hydrobiol. 83, 203-206.

PRÉSING M., VÖRÖS L., HERODEK S., ABRUSÁN. GY. (1998) The significance of various nitrogen sources for phytoplankton growth in shallow lake and hypertrophic reservoirs. – Internat. Rev. Hydrobiol. 83, 361-368.

PRÉSING M., HERODEK S., VÖRÖS L., PRESTON T., ABRUSÁN. GY. (1999) Nitrogen uptake by summer phytoplankton in Lake Balaton. – Arch. Hydrobiol. 145, 93-110.

TÁTRAI I., MÁTYÁS K., KORPONAI J., PAULOVITS G., POMOGYI P., PRÉSING M. (1999) Stable isotope analysis of food webs in wetland areas of Lake Balaton, Hungary. – Arch. Hydrobiol. 146, 117-128.

ISTVÁNOVICS V., SHAFIK H.M., PRÉSING M., JUHOS SZ. (2000) Growth and phosphate uptake kinetics of the cyanobacterium, Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii (Cyanophyceae) in throughflow cultures. – Freshwater Biol. 43, 257-275.

PRÉSING M., HERODEK S., PRESTON T., VÖRÖS L. (2001) Nitrogen uptake and the importance of internal nitrogen loading in Lake Balaton. – Freshwater Biol. 46, 125-139.

Quantifying and differentiating the sources of stress on macrophyte development through remote sensing 2002-2004. 
Grant from British Council and Ministry of Education of Hungary, 
Principal investigators: Andrew Tyler (Department of Environmental Science, University of Stirling) and Mátyás Présing (HAS Balaton Limnological Research Institute)

Remediation of Lake Balaton: remote sensing as a management tool 1999-2001. NATO Linkage Grant, Principal investigators: Tom Preston (Isotope Biochemistry Laboratory, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre) and Mátyás Présing (HAS Balaton Limnological Research Institute)

Nitrogen regeneration and the support of standing crop in Lake Balaton 1998-1999. Grant from The Royal Society, Principal investigators: Tom Preston (Isotope Biochemistry Laboratory, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre) and Mátyás Présing (HAS Balaton Limnological Research Institute)

Principal investigator in projects

Characterization of phytoplankton nitrogen uptake and investigation of the internal nitrogen load 2000-2002. 
Grant from the Office of the Prime Minister

The role of ammonium regeneration in nitrogen support of phytoplankton in Lake Balaton 1998-2000. 
Research Fund of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Investigator in projects

Factors influencing the distribution of macrohytes in lake Balaton 1999-2002. Grant from the Office of the Prime Minister
Principal investigator: Sándor Herodek

Formation and degradation processes of dissolved humic substances in Lake Balaton – Kis-Balaton reservoir system 1999-2002

Grant from the Hungarian Scientific research Fund (T030302)
Principal investigator: Katalin V.-Balogh

Ammonium and nitrate uptake by phytoplankton in Lake Balaton 1995-1999. Grant from the Hungarian Scientific research Fund (T 016303) Principal investigator: Sándor Herodek

Visited countries: Armenia, Australia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, UK, Ukraine.

1996 one month research work in CNR Instituto di Idrobiologia, Pallanza, Italy

1992-1993 postdoctoral fellowship of The Royal Society at the Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre, Glasgow, East-Kilbride

1981-1985 PhD fellowship on Department of Hydrobiology of Odessa State University, Ukraine