Biochemical Quality of Stream Periphyton as Affected by Light and Nutrient Availability
Abstract
Primary productivity and the availability of food resources have traditionally been understood as the key factors limiting consumer productivity in aquatic food webs (Wetzel 2001). However, this idea has recently been challenged by studies suggesting that the biochemical composition and quality of food resources may be of greater importance to trophic connectivity and the efficiency of energy transfer into biomass across the plant-animal interface (Sterner and Hessen 1994, Brett and Mtiller-Navarra 1997, Miiller-Navarra et al. 2000, Rosemond et al. 2000, Urabe et al. 2002, Hill et al. 2010). Food webs that lack key biochemical components within primary producers demonstrate trophic decoupling, leading to a significant increase in primary productivity but with little corresponding increase in consumer biomass (Brett and Mtiller-Navarra 1997). Food quality may be one reason why hypereutrophic lakes with large algal blooms sustain relatively few macroinvertebrates and fish. Algal species that dominate these systems (primarily cyanobacteria) contain inadequate nutrition to support higher trophic levels (Mtiller-Navarra et al. 2004).
Subject Area
Biology
Recommended Citation
Cashman, Matthew Joseph, "Biochemical Quality of Stream Periphyton as Affected by Light and Nutrient Availability" (2011). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI13852714.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI13852714
