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Algal Abundance (algal + abundance)
Selected AbstractsField evidence of trait-mediated indirect interactions in a rocky intertidal food webECOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 2 2002Geoffrey C. Trussell Studies on the implications of food web interactions to community structure have often focused on density-mediated interactions between predators and their prey. This approach emphasizes the importance of predator regulation of prey density via consumption (i.e. lethal effects), which, in turn, leads to cascading effects on the prey's resources. A more recent and contrasting view emphasizes the importance of non-lethal predator effects on prey traits (e.g. behaviour, morphology), or trait-mediated interactions. On rocky intertidal shores in New England, green crab (Carcinus maenas) predation is thought to be important to patterns of algal abundance and diversity by regulating the density of herbivorous snails (Littorina littorea). We found, however, that risk cues from green crabs can dramatically suppress snail grazing, with large effects on fucoid algal communities. Our results suggest that predator-induced changes in prey behaviour may be an important and under-appreciated component of food web interactions and community dynamics on rocky intertidal shores. [source] Seasonal dynamics of macrophytes and phytoplankton in shallow lakes: a eutrophication-driven pathway from plants to plankton?FRESHWATER BIOLOGY, Issue 3 2010CARL D. SAYER Summary 1. Seasonal relationships between macrophyte and phytoplankton populations may alter considerably as lakes undergo eutrophication. Understanding of these changes may be key to the interpretation of ecological processes operating over longer (decadal-centennial) timescales. 2. We explore the seasonal dynamics of macrophytes (measured twice in June and August) and phytoplankton (measured monthly May,September) populations in 39 shallow lakes (29 in the U.K. and 10 in Denmark) covering broad gradients for nutrients and plant abundance. 3. Three site groups were identified based on macrophyte seasonality; 16 lakes where macrophyte abundance was perennially low and the water generally turbid (,turbid lakes'); 7 where macrophyte abundance was high in June but low in August (,crashing' lakes); and 12 where macrophyte abundance was high in both June and August (,stable' lakes). The seasonal behaviour of the crashing and turbid lakes was extremely similar with a consistent increase in nutrient concentrations and chlorophyll- a over May,September. By contrast in the stable lakes, seasonal changes were dampened with chlorophyll- a consistently low (<10,15 ,g L,1) over the entire summer. The crashing lakes were dominated by one or a combination of Potamogeton pusillus, Potamogeton pectinatus and Zannichellia palustris, whereas Ceratophyllum demersum and Chara spp. were more abundant in the stable lakes. 4. A long-term loss of macrophyte species diversity has occurred in many shallow lakes affected by eutrophication. One common pathway is from a species-rich plant community with charophytes to a species-poor community dominated by P. pusillus, P. pectinatus and Z. palustris. Such compositional changes may often be accompanied by a substantial reduction in the seasonal duration of plant dominance and a greater tendency for incursions by phytoplankton. We hypothesise a slow-enacting (10,100 s years) feedback loop in nutrient-enriched shallow lakes whereby increases in algal abundance are associated with losses of macrophyte species and hence different plant seasonal strategies. In turn such changes may favour increased phytoplankton production thus placing further pressure on remaining macrophytes. This study blurs the distinction between so-called turbid phytoplankton-dominated and clear plant-dominated shallow lakes and suggests that plant loss from them may be a gradual process. [source] Effects of sequential depositional basins on lake response to urban and agricultural pollution: a palaeoecological analysis of the Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan, CanadaFRESHWATER BIOLOGY, Issue 3 2000Aruna S. Dixit 1. Palaeolimnological analyses of fossil diatoms and pigments were conducted in four lakes of the Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada, to quantify the effect of upstream depositional basins on lake response to urban and agricultural human activities. Pasqua, Echo, Mission and Katepwa lakes exhibit similar modern limnological characteristics, lie sequentially downstream from urban point sources of growth-limiting nitrogen (N), yet drain similarly large areas of farmland (38,40 × 103 km2). 2. Analyses indicated that all lakes were naturally productive, contained eutrophic diatoms (i.e. Stephanodiscus niagarae, S. hantzchii, S. parvus and Aulacoseira granulata), and supported blooms of colonial (as myxoxanthophyll) and potentially toxic N-fixing cyanobacteria (aphanizophyll), even prior to the onset of European settlement (ca. 1890) and urban development (ca. 1930). 3. The onset of agricultural practices ca. 1890 had only modest effects on algal communities in the Qu'Appelle lakes, with subtle increases in eutrophic diatom species (Pasqua, Mission and Katepwa lakes) and 25,50% increases in pigment-inferred algal abundance (Echo, Mission and Katepwa lakes). 4. Despite naturally high production, total algal abundance (,-carotene) in upstream Pasqua Lake increased by more than 350% after intense urbanization beginning ca. 1930, while eutrophic diatoms became more common and cyanobacteria populations increased ten-fold. Principal components analysis (PCA) explained 64% of diatom variance, and identified three eras corresponding to baseline, pre-agricultural communities (1776,1890), an era of high production (ca. 1925,1960) and recent variable community composition following tertiary treatment of urban sewage (ca. 1977,1990). 5. Analyses of three downstream lakes demonstrated that urban impacts following 1930 remained evident in fossil profiles of ,-carotene and myxoxanthophyll, but that large blooms of N-fixing cyanobacteria were restricted to the past 25 years at downstream Mission and Katepwa lakes. Similarly, PCA showed that fossil diatom assemblages exhibited little directional variation until the 1970s. 6. Together, these analyses support the hypothesis that upstream lakes were effective at reducing the impacts of point-source urban nutrients on downstream lakes. In contrast, diffuse agricultural activities had only limited impacts on water quality and these were less well ameliorated by upstream basins. [source] Stoichiometric impacts of increased carbon dioxide on a planktonic herbivoreGLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, Issue 6 2003JOTARO URABE Abstract The partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) in lake ecosystems varies over four orders of magnitude and is affected by local and global environmental perturbations associated with both natural and anthropogenic processes. Little is known, however, about how changes in pCO2 extend into the function and structure of food webs in freshwater ecosystems. To fill this gap, we performed laboratory experiments using the ecologically important planktonic herbivore Daphnia and its algal prey under a natural range of pCO2 with low light and phosphorus supplies. The experiment showed that increased pCO2 stimulated algal growth but reduced algal P : C ratio. When feeding on algae grown under high pCO2, herbivore growth decreased regardless of algal abundance. Thus, high CO2 -raised algae were poor food for Daphnia. Short-term experimental supplementation of PO4 raised the P content of the high CO2 -raised algae and improved Daphnia growth, indicating that low Daphnia growth rates under high pCO2 conditions were due to lowered P content in the algal food. These results suggest that, in freshwater ecosystems with low nutrient supplies, natural processes as well as anthropogenic perturbations resulting in increased pCO2 enhance algal production but reduce energy and mass transfer efficiency to herbivores by decreasing algal nutritional quality. [source] Post-Impoundment Biomass and Composition of Phytoplankton in the Yangtze RiverINTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF HYDROBIOLOGY, Issue 3 2007Hui Zeng Abstract Damming, and thus alteration of stream flow, promotes higher phytoplankton populations and encourages algal blooms (density >106 cells L,1) in the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR). Phytoplankton composition and biomass were studied in the Yangtze River from March 2004 to May 2005. 107 taxa were identified. Diatoms were the dominant group, followed by Chlorophyta and Cyanobacteria. In the Yangtze River, algal abundance varied from 3.13 × 103 to 3.83 × 106 cells L,1, and algal biomass was in the range of 0.06 to 659 mg C m,3. Levels of nitrogen, phosphorus and silica did not show consistent longitudinal changes along the river and were not correlated with phytoplankton parameters. Phytoplankton abundance was negatively correlated with main channel discharge (Spearman r = ,1.000, P < 0.01). Phytoplankton abundance and biomass in the Yangtze River are mainly determined by the hydrological conditions rather than by nutrient concentrations. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Effects of gizzard shad on benthic communities in reservoirsJOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY, Issue 6 2003K. B. Gido Effects of gizzard shad Dorosoma cepedianum on benthic communities in a large southern reservoir (Lake Texoma, U.S.A.) were examined during two field enclosure and exclosure experiments in which enclosures were stocked at high and low densities in 1998 and 1999, respectively. In both years, chironomid abundance significantly increased in treatments that excluded large fishes from foraging on sediments. Mean abundance of chironomids and ostracods were significantly higher (P < 0·05) in exclosures than enclosures stocked with gizzard shad at 1140,1210 kg ha,1. In 1999, benthic invertebrate abundances did not differ (P > 0·08) between exclosure and enclosures stocked at 175,213 kg ha,1. Per cent organic matter, algal abundance and abundance of other macroinvertebrates in sediments did not differ significantly among treatments in either year. Although chironomid abundance was reduced in gizzard shad enclosures in 1998, food habits from this and other studies showed that adult gizzard shad in Lake Texoma only consumed detritus and algae. It is likely that high sedimentation rates in Lake Texoma limit the ability of gizzard shad to regulate algae and detritus in benthic sediments. Thus, it is concluded that disturbance of benthic sediments by gizzard shad caused the observed reduction in chironomid abundance, rather than through consumption or competition for resources. [source] 30,Seasonal control of phytoplankton biomass and productivity in coastal british columbia lakes and reservoirsJOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY, Issue 2003J. M. Davies Factors controlling algal abundance and carbon fixation form a cornerstone of aquatic ecology. Central among these are light, nutrients, and grazers. We measured 14C fixation over one year in six coastal BC lakes that differed in trophic status and grazer community structure. The lakes in our study were never covered with ice, so mixing due to wind energy was more similar to summer months and light levels were higher during winter than comparable ice-covered lakes. Our study, therefore, offered a unique opportunity to examine how seasonal changes in light and temperature affects the functioning of these lakes. While many of our study lakes had higher chlorophyll concentrations during winter months, only the lake with a community dominated by small grazers maintained moderate nutrient deficiency throughout the year and increased 14C-fixation during the winter (Jan,Feb). [source] Effects of herbivory and the season of disturbance on algal succession in a tropical intertidal shore, Phuket, ThailandPHYCOLOGICAL RESEARCH, Issue 2 2010Jaruwan Mayakun SUMMARY The effects of herbivory and the season of disturbance on species composition and algal succession were experimentally tested at a tropical intertidal shore, Phuket Island, Thailand. Dead coral patches were cleared of all organisms during both the dry and rainy seasons in order to study the effects of season on algal succession and cages were set up to exclude fish herbivory. Algal succession in this intertidal habitat showed a simple pattern and took a year from the early Ulva paradoxa C. Agardh stage to the late Polysiphonia sphaerocarpa Børgesen stage. The abundance of algae during succession was under the influence of seasonal change. U. paradoxa reproduced and recruited throughout the year. Caging effects did not apparently influence algal abundance, perhaps because resident herbivorous damselfishes excluded other herbivores from their territories and maintained their algal "farms". Unexpectedly, the percent cover of Ulva in the caged plots was lower than in uncaged plots. This pattern may indicate that caging excluded damselfishes only, but allowed small herbivores that consumed substantial amounts of soft filamentous algae in the cages. [source] Assessment of the ecological status of north-eastern Adriatic coastal waters (Istria, Croatia) using macroalgal assemblages for the European Union Water Framework DirectiveAQUATIC CONSERVATION: MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS, Issue 1 2009Ljiljana Ive Abstract 1.Based on the inclusion of macroalgae in the European Union Water Framework Directive as quality elements for the evaluation of the ecological status of coastal waters, the suitability of one (Ecological Evaluation Index, EEI) of several previously proposed evaluation methods in the particular ecological conditions of the northern Adriatic Sea was tested. 2.The EEI was assessed for 10 locations (polluted and putatively pristine) scattered along 60,km of the western Istrian coast. The sampling was performed seasonally at 1 and 3,m depth by destructive (determination of species cover and biomass) and non-destructive (determination of species coverage using digital photography) methods. 3.When assessed at 1,m depth the spatial scale weighted EEI for the west Istrian coast was 8.1, corresponding to an ecological status class (ESC) value of high. However, data for 3,m depth gave a spatial EEI of 6.72 which corresponds to an ESC value of good. Regressions of the ratio of ecological state group I (ESG I, i.e. thick leathery, calcareous and crustose species) over total algal abundance with the pollution gradient (obtained using principal components analysis (PCA) ordination of environmental variables) were significant at 3,m but not at 1,m depth. This was due to the high abundance of ESG I macroalgae Corallina elongata and Cystoseira compressa at 1,m depth at polluted stations. Similar regressions were obtained using cover, biomass and coverage. 4.It is concluded that the EEI method may be suitable for the classification of coastal waters in the northern Adriatic only in certain cases. A better assessment of ecological status using this method would require more realistic estimations based on the inclusion of data from several sampling depths. As all three abundance measures (cover, biomass, coverage) gave similar results, coverage (using digital photography) is suggested as being a preferred measure owing to the rapidity of sampling at several depths and less time-consuming laboratory work. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||