Showing papers on "Productivity (ecology) published in 2006"

From plankton to top predators: bottom-up control of a marine food web across four trophic levels.

Abstract: 1. Abundant mid-trophic pelagic fish often play a central role in marine ecosystems, both as links between zooplankton and top predators and as important fishery targets. In the North Sea, the lesser sandeel occupies this position, being the main prey of many bird, mammal and fish predators and the target of a major industrial fishery. However, since 2003, sandeel landings have decreased by > 50%, and many sandeel-dependent seabirds experienced breeding failures in 2004. 2. Despite the major economic implications, current understanding of the regulation of key constituents of this ecosystem is poor. Sandeel abundance may be regulated 'bottom-up' by food abundance, often thought to be under climatic control, or 'top-down' by natural or fishery predation. We tested predictions from these two hypotheses by combining unique long-term data sets (1973-2003) on seabird breeding productivity from the Isle of May, SE Scotland, and plankton and fish larvae from the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey. We also tested whether seabird breeding productivity was more tightly linked to sandeel biomass or quality (size) of individual fish. 3. The biomass of larval sandeels increased two- to threefold over the study period and was positively associated with proxies of the abundance of their plankton prey. Breeding productivity of four seabirds bringing multiple prey items to their offspring was positively related to sandeel larval biomass with a 1-year lag, indicating dependence on 1-year-old fish, but in one species bringing individual fish it was strongly associated with the size of adult sandeels. 4. These links are consistent with bottom-up ecosystem regulation and, with evidence from previous studies, indicate how climate-driven changes in plankton communities can affect top predators and potentially human fisheries through the dynamics of key mid-trophic fish. However, the failing recruitment to adult sandeel stocks and the exceptionally low seabird breeding productivity in 2004 were not associated with low sandeel larval biomass in 2003, so other mechanisms (e.g. predation, lack of suitable food after metamorphosis) must have been important in this case. Understanding ecosystem regulation is extremely important for predicting the fate of keystone species, such as sandeels, and their predators.

Herbivore impact on grassland plant diversity depends on habitat productivity and herbivore size.

Abstract: Mammalian herbivores can have pronounced effects on plant diversity but are currently declining in many productive ecosystems through direct extirpation, habitat loss and fragmentation, while being simultaneously introduced as livestock in other, often unproductive, ecosystems that lacked such species during recent evolutionary times. The biodiversity consequences of these changes are still poorly understood. We experimentally separated the effects of primary productivity and herbivores of different body size on plant species richness across a 10-fold productivity gradient using a 7-year field experiment at seven grassland sites in North America and Europe. We show that assemblages including large herbivores increased plant diversity at higher productivity but decreased diversity at low productivity, while small herbivores did not have consistent effects along the productivity gradient. The recognition of these large-scale, cross-site patterns in herbivore effects is important for the development of appropriate biodiversity conservation strategies.

Temperature Influences Carbon Accumulation in Moist Tropical Forests

Abstract: Evergreen broad-leaved tropical forests can have high rates of productivity and large accumulations of carbon in plant biomass and soils. They can therefore play an important role in the global carbon cycle, influencing atmospheric CO2 concentrations if climate warms. We applied meta-analyses to published data to evaluate the apparent effects of temperature on carbon fluxes and storages in mature, moist tropical evergreen forest ecosystems. Among forests, litter production, tree growth, and belowground carbon allocation all increased significantly with site mean annual temperature (MAT); total net primary productivity (NPP) increased by an estimated 0.2-0.7 Mg C x ha(-1) x yr(-1) x degrees C(-1). Temperature had no discernible effect on the turnover rate of aboveground forest biomass, which averaged 0.014 yr(-1) among sites. Consistent with these findings, forest biomass increased with site MAT at a rate of 5-13 Mg C x ha(-1) x degrees C(-1). Despite greater productivity in warmer forests, soil organic matter accumulations decreased with site MAT, with a slope of -8 Mg C x ha(-1) x degrees C(-1), indicating that decomposition rates of soil organic matter increased with MAT faster than did rates of NPP. Turnover rates of surface litter also increased with temperature among forests. We found no detectable effect of temperature on total carbon storage among moist-tropical evergreen forests, but rather a shift in ecosystem structure, from low-biomass forests with relatively large accumulations of detritus in cooler sites, to large-biomass forests with relatively smaller detrital stocks in warmer locations. These results imply that, in a warmer climate, conservation of forest biomass will be critical to the maintenance of carbon stocks in moist tropical forests.

The long-term culture of the coccolithophore Pleurochrysis carterae (Haptophyta) in outdoor raceway ponds

Abstract: The calcareous marine haptophyte algae, the coccolithophorids, are of global environmental significance because of the impact of their blooms on the carbon cycle. The coccolithophorid, Pleurochrysis carterae was grown semi-continuously in paddlewheel-driven outdoor raceway ponds over a period of 13 months in Perth, Western Australia. The mean total dry weight productivity of P. carterae was 0.19 g.L−1.d−1 with cell lipid and CaCO3 contents of up to 33% and 10% of dry weight respectively, equivalent to an annual total biomass productivity of about 60 t.ha−1.y−1 and 21.9 t.ha−1.y−1 total lipid and 5.5 t.ha−1.y−1 total calcium carbonate production. Throughout the culture period there was little protozoan contamination or contamination by other algae. The pH of the growth medium increased to pH 11 during the day and was found to be a useful variable for monitoring the state of the culture. A comparison of the growth of P. carterae and Dunaliella salina in the raceway ponds showed no significant differences between these two species with regard to areal total dry weight productivity and lipid content.

Shelf and open-ocean calcareous phytoplankton assemblages across the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum: Implications for global productivity gradients

Abstract: Abrupt global warming and profound perturbation of the carbon cycle during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, ca. 55 Ma) have been linked to a massive release of carbon into the ocean-atmosphere system. Increased phytoplankton productivity has been invoked to cause subsequent CO2 drawdown, cooling, and environmental recovery. However, interpretations of geochemical and biotic data differ on when and where this increased productivity occurred. Here we present high-resolution nannofossil assemblage data from a shelf section (the U.S. Geological Survey [USGS] drill hole at Wilson Lake, New Jersey) and an open-ocean location (Ocean Drilling Program [ODP] Site 1209, paleoequatorial Pacific). These data combined with published biotic records indicate a transient steepening of shelf-offshelf trophic gradients across the PETM onset and peak, with a decrease in open-ocean productivity coeval with increased nutrient availability in shelf areas. Productivity levels recovered in the open ocean during the later stages of the event, which, coupled with intensified continental weathering rates, may have played an important role in carbon sequestration and CO2 drawdown.

Effects of eutrophication, grazing, and algal blooms on rocky shores

Abstract: Eutrophication can profoundly change rocky shore communities. These changes often cause the replacement of perennial, canopy-forming algae such as Fucus spp. with annual, bloom-forming algae such as Enteromorpha spp. Grazing, however, can counteract eutrophication by eliminating the annual algae’s susceptible recruits. We examine these generalizations across large scales. We use replicated ‘‘bioassay’’ experiments to compare the effects of eutrophication and grazing across four paired control versus eutrophied sites in the Northwest Atlantic and four eutrophied sites in the Baltic Sea in spring and summer. At each site, annual algal recruitment and grazing pressure were estimated using tiles seeded with Enteromorpha intestinalispropagules. Tiles were exposed for 3 weeks with grazers excluded or allowed access. Productivity of E. intestinalis recruits was strongly related to eutrophication (10-fold increase) and grazing (80% decrease) and was weakly related to season. While the absolute grazing rate increased in a linear fashion with algal productivity, the relative grazing rate remained surprisingly constant ( ;80%). Comparative field surveys showed that perennial algae decreased by 30‐60%, while annual algae, filter feeders, and grazers increased across a gradient of eutrophication. As eutrophication increased from control to eutrophied to point source sites, rocky shore communities became increasingly dominated by single species of annual algae or filter feeders, and community diversity declined consistently by 24‐46%. We conclude that grazers are important controllers of algal blooms but that, ultimately, they cannot override the effects of increasing eutrophication on rocky shore community structure and biodiversity. Rocky shores are among the most dynamic and productive ecosystems on the planet. Biomass and primary productivity are typically dominated by canopy-forming perennial macroalgae such as fucoids and laminarians. Together with seagrasses on soft-bottom habitats, these algae generate up to 40% of the primary productivity of the coastal zone (Char

Ecosystem productivity can be predicted from potential relative growth rate and species abundance

Abstract: We show that ecosystem-specific aboveground net primary productivity (SANPP, g g(-1) day(-1), productivity on a per gram basis) can be predicted from species-level measures of potential relative growth rate (RGRmax), but only if RGRmax is weighted according to the species' relative abundance. This is in agreement with Grime's mass-ratio hypothesis. Productivity was measured in 12 sites in a French Mediterranean post-agricultural succession, while RGRmax was measured on 26 of the most abundant species from this successional sere, grown hydroponically. RGRmax was only weakly correlated (r2 = 0.12, P < 0.05) with field age when species abundance was not considered, but the two variables were strongly correlated (r2 = 0.81, P < 0.001) when the relative abundance of species in each field was taken into account. SANPP also decreased significantly with field age. This resulted in a tight relationship (r2 = 0.77, P < 0.001) between productivity and RGRmax weighted according to species relative biomass contribution. Our study shows that scaling-up from the potential properties of individual species is possible, and that information on potential and realized species traits can be integrated to predict ecosystem functioning.

Significance of instream autotrophs in trophic dynamics of the Upper Mississippi River.

Abstract: Trophic dynamics of large river–floodplain ecosystems are still not well understood despite development of several conceptual models over the last 25 years. To help resolve questions about the relative contribution of algal and detrital organic matter to food webs in the Upper Mississippi River, we (1) separated living and detrital components of ultrafine and fine transported organic matter (UTOM and FTOM, respectively) by colloidal silica centrifugation; (2) identified stable isotope signatures (δ13C and δ15N) for these two portions of transported organic matter and other potential organic matter sources; and (3) employed a multiple source, dual-isotope mixing model to determine the relative contribution of major energy sources to primary consumers and the potential contribution of basal sources to the biomass of secondary consumers. The δ13C and δ15N of living and detrital fractions of UTOM and FTOM were distinct, indicating clear differences in isotopic composition of the algal and detrital fractions of transported organic matter. Living and detrital transported organic matter also differed from other potential organic matter sources by either δ13C or δ15N. A six-source mixing model using both δ13C and δ15N indicated that algal transported organic matter was the major resource assimilated by primary consumers. The contribution of detrital transported organic matter was small in most cases, but there were a small number of taxa for which it could potentially contribute to more than half the assimilated diet. Colloidal dissolved organic matter, which includes heterotrophic bacteria, accounted for only a small fraction of the organic matter assimilated by most primary consumers, indicating that coupling between microbial processes and metazoan production is minimal. Terrestrial C3 litter from the floodplain forest floor and aquatic macrophytes were also relatively unimportant to the assimilated diet of primary consumers. Application of the mixing model to compare basal source isotopic ratios to secondary consumers revealed that most organic matter moving from primary to secondary consumers originated from algal TOM. Our findings indicate that autochthonous organic matter is the major energy source supporting metazoan production in the main channel of this large river, at least during the summer. This study joins a number of other investigations performed globally that indicate organic matter originating from instream production of sestonic and benthic microalgae is a major driver in the trophic dynamics of large river ecosystems.

Asymmetry in community regulation: effects of predators and productivity

Abstract: Eutrophication and predator additions and extinctions are occurring in ecosystems worldwide. Although theory predicts that both will strongly alter the distribution of biomass in whole communities, empirical evidence has not been consolidated to quantitatively determine whether these theoretical predictions are generally borne out in real ecosystems. Here we analyze data from two types of trophic cascade studies, predator removals in factorial combination with fertilization and observed productivity gradients, to assess the role of top-down and bottom-up forces in structuring multi-trophic communities and compare results from these analyses to those from an extensive database of trophic cascade studies. We find that herbivore biomass declines and plant biomass increases in the presence of predators, regardless of system productivity. In contrast, while plants are increased by fertilization, this effect does not significantly increase herbivores in either the presence or absence of predators. These patterns are consistent among marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems and are largely independent of study size and duration. Thus, top-down effects of predation are transferred through more trophic levels than are bottom-up effects of eutrophication, showing strong asymmetry in the direction of control of biomass distribution in communities.

Spatial and temporal patterns of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) along two freshwater-estuarine transects in the Florida Coastal Everglades

Abstract: We present here a 4-year dataset (2001–2004) on the spatial and temporal patterns of aboveground net primary production (ANPP) by dominant primary producers (sawgrass, periphyton, mangroves, and seagrasses) along two transects in the oligotrophic Florida Everglades coastal landscape. The 17 sites of the Florida Coastal Everglades Long Term Ecological Research (FCE LTER) program are located along fresh-estuarine gradients in Shark River Slough (SRS) and Taylor River/C-111/Florida Bay (TS/Ph) basins that drain the western and southern Everglades, respectively. Within the SRS basin, sawgrass and periphyton ANPP did not differ significantly among sites but mangrove ANPP was highest at the site nearest the Gulf of Mexico. In the southern Everglades transect, there was a productivity peak in sawgrass and periphyton at the upper estuarine ecotone within Taylor River but no trends were observed in the C-111 Basin for either primary producer. Over the 4 years, average sawgrass ANPP in both basins ranged from 255 to 606 g m−2 year−1. Average periphyton productivity at SRS and TS/Ph was 17–68 g C m−2 year−1 and 342–10371 g C m−2 year−1, respectively. Mangrove productivity ranged from 340 g m−2 year−1 at Taylor River to 2208 g m−2 year−1 at the lower estuarine Shark River site. Average Thalassia testudinum productivity ranged from 91 to 396 g m−2 year−1 and was 4-fold greater at the site nearest the Gulf of Mexico than in eastern Florida Bay. There were no differences in periphyton productivity at Florida Bay. Interannual comparisons revealed no significant differences within each primary producer at either SRS or TS/Ph with the exception of sawgrass at SRS and the C−111 Basin. Future research will address difficulties in assessing and comparing ANPP of different primary producers along gradients as well as the significance of belowground production to the total productivity of this ecosystem.

Changes in productivity associated with four introduced species: ecosystem transformation of a pristine estuary

Abstract: Multiple stressors in estuaries can cause declines in native species and impairment of ecosystem goods and services. In contrast, one stressor—the introduction of non-native species— actually leads to higher local richness. We examined the changes in ecosystem function associated with introductions into Willapa Bay, Washington, USA, a relatively undeveloped estuary with 45 doc- umented exotic marine species. The replacement of native oysters by 2 new bivalve species has increased secondary production of harvested suspension feeders by 250% over peak historic values (3.3 × 10 5 vs. 0.9 × 10 5 kg dry wt yr -1 ), based on >150 yr of records of harvested biomass. Key aspects of aquaculture—particularly planted area—have remained constant over time, so we attribute much of the altered secondary production to higher growth rates of non-native species. The addition of 2 tracheophytes has increased primary production on the tideflats by >50% (5.3 × 10 7 vs. 3.5 × 10 7 kg dry wt yr -1 ), which we calculated by scaling up local measurements of plant growth to the total area occupied by each species. These changes in production are also associated with altered detritus, water filtration, and biogenic habitat. Because other stressors are largely absent from Willapa Bay, the addition of particular exotic species has dramatically enhanced system production, while funda- mentally reshaping the ecological character of the estuary. These strong ecological impacts of intro- duced species have rarely been measured at whole-ecosystem scales, and they occur in part because new species occupy habitats where similar native species were not present.

Nutrient cycling by fish supports relatively more primary production as lake productivity increases.

Abstract: Animals can be important in nutrient cycling in particular ecosystems, but few studies have examined how this importance varies along environmental gradients. In this study we quantified the nutrient cycling role of an abundant detritivorous fish species, the gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum), in reservoir ecosystems along a gradient of ecosystem productivity. Gizzard shad feed mostly on sediment detritus and excrete sediment-derived nutrients into the water column, thereby mediating a cross-habitat translocation of nutrients to phytoplankton. We quantified nitrogen and phosphorus cycling (excretion) rates of gizzard shad, as well as nutrient demand by phytoplankton, in seven lakes over a four-year period (16 lake-years). The lakes span a gradient of watershed land use (the relative amounts of land used for agriculture vs. forest) and productivity. As the watersheds of these lakes became increasingly dominated by agricultural land, primary production rates, lake trophic state indicators (total phosphorus and chlorophyll concentrations), and nutrient flux through gizzard shad populations all increased. Nutrient cycling by gizzard shad supported a substantial proportion of primary production in these ecosystems, and this proportion increased as watershed agriculture (and ecosystem productivity) increased. In the four productive lakes with agricultural watersheds (.78% agricultural land), gizzard shad supported on average 51% of phytoplankton primary production (range 27-67%). In contrast, in the three relatively unproductive lakes in forested or mixed-land-use watersheds (.47% forest, ,52% agricultural land), gizzard shad supported 18% of primary production (range 14-23%). Thus, along a gradient of forested to agricultural landscapes, both watershed nutrient inputs and nutrient translocation by gizzard shad increase, but our data indicate that the importance of nutrient translocation by gizzard shad increases more rapidly. Our results therefore support the hypothesis that watersheds and gizzard shad jointly regulate primary production in reservoir ecosystems.

The effect of primary productivity and seasonality on the distribution of deep-sea benthic foraminifera in the North Atlantic

Abstract: Deep-sea benthic foraminifera from 43 Holocene core tops in the North Atlantic were studied to evaluate the influence of primary productivity and the seasonality of primary productivity on the distributional patterns of species, faunal assemblages, and microhabitat groups. Two faunal assemblages, Epistominella exigua-Alabaminella weddellensis assemblage and Globocassidulina subglobosa-Epistominella umbonifera assemblage, were found to correlate with seasonality of primary productivity. The E. exigua-A. weddellensis assemblage is found at high latitudes and positively correlates with seasonality, while the G. subglobosa-E. umbonifera assemblage is generally found at low latitudes and has a negative correlation. Correlation analysis indicates that the relative abundance of one species alone (E. exigua or A. weddellensis ) is not a strong indicator of either primary productivity or seasonality. No significant relationships are found between benthic foraminiferal species, faunal assemblages, or microhabitat groups and bottom water properties, which suggests that the deep-sea fauna may not be used to reconstruct bottom water properties in this region. Based on microhabitat preferences of individual species, the fauna is categorized into epifaunal, infaunal, and phytodetrital groups and is compared with primary productivity of the overlying surface waters and seasonality. No significant relationship was found between the relative abundance of the infaunal group and primary productivity or its seasonality, and only a weak correlation was found between these variables and the epifaunal group (r2=0.33r2=0.33; 0.46). However, the relative abundances of the phytodetrital group correlate relatively well with seasonal variability (r2=0.63)(r2=0.63), reflecting the association of these species with phytodetritus in regions marked by high seasonal variation in organic carbon flux. These results indicate that the relative abundance of the phytodetrital group may be used to reconstruct seasonality of productivity in the North Atlantic.

Export of detached macroalgae from reefs to adjacent seagrass beds

Abstract: Trophic linkages across habitats are thought to be strong when areas of different productivity are juxtaposed. Reefs dominated by macroalgae are commonly juxtaposed to less productive seagrass beds. We tested if macroalgae detached from 12 rocky reefs in south-western Australia were exported to adjacent seagrass beds and consumed by seagrass-associated fauna. We also assessed the extent of linkages by testing for patterns in biomass and consumption of reef algae, and density of herbivorous fish with increasing distance away from reefs. Detached reef algae were found in seagrass beds adjacent to all reefs. The biomass varied among reefs and with distance from reef, but detached reef algae within the seagrass beds comprised up to 23% (mean 3.6% ± 0.7 SE) of attached algae growing on an equivalent area of reef. Maximum accumulations were found immediately adjacent to reefs (0 m) and at the furthest distance away (>300 m). Kelp (Ecklonia radiata) dominated the attached and detached algae, and up to 77% of the biomass of E. radiata tethered in seagrass beds were consumed over 5 days (mean 11.7% ± 0.5 SE). There were more herbivorous fish at 0 m than at >300 m away from reefs, and consumption of tethered kelp was typically highest at 0 m, but was in some cases highest at >300 m. Our study documents that, over hundreds of kilometres of coastline, macroalgae are exported from reefs to adjacent seagrass beds where they are consumed by seagrass-associated fauna. While reef algae in seagrass beds may be a patchy resource at a single time, at landscape scales and over longer time periods, the supply will be relatively predictable. We therefore suggest that detached reef algae form a significant trophic link between reefs and seagrass beds, and that this trophic link extends to distances of at least hundreds of metres away from individual reefs.

Nitrogen response efficiency increased monotonically with decreasing soil resource availability: a case study from a semiarid grassland in northern China.

Abstract: The concept of nutrient use efficiency is central to understanding ecosystem functioning because it is the step in which plants can influence the return of nutrients to the soil pool and the quality of the litter. Theory suggests that nutrient efficiency increases unimodally with declining soil resources, but this has not been tested empirically for N and water in grassland ecosystems, where plant growth in these ecosystems is generally thought to be limited by soil N and moisture. In this paper, we tested the N uptake and the N use efficiency (NUE) of two Stipa species (S. grandis and S. krylovii) from 20 sites in the Inner Mongolia grassland by measuring the N content of net primary productivity (NPP). NUE is defined as the total net primary production per unit N absorbed. We further distinguished NUE from N response efficiency (NRE; production per unit N available). We found that NPP increased with soil N and water availability. Efficiency of whole-plant N use, uptake, and response increased monotonically with decreasing soil N and water, being higher on infertile (dry) habitats than on fertile (wet) habitats. We further considered NUE as the product of the N productivity (NP the rate of biomass increase per unit N in the plant) and the mean residence time (MRT; the ratio between the average N pool and the annual N uptake or loss). The NP and NUE of S. grandis growing usually in dry and N-poor habitats exceeded those of S. krylovii abundant in wet and N-rich habitats. NUE differed among sites, and was often affected by the evolutionary trade-off between NP and MRT, where plants and communities had adapted in a way to maximize either NP or MRT, but not both concurrently. Soil N availability and moisture influenced the community-level N uptake efficiency and ultimately the NRE, though the response to N was dependent on the plant community examined. These results show that soil N and water had exerted a great impact on the N efficiency in Stipa species. The intraspecific differences in N efficiency within both Stipa species along soil resource availability gradient may explain the differences in plant productivity on various soils, which will be conducive to our general understanding of the N cycling and vegetation dynamics in northern Chinese grasslands.

Microbial production, utilization, and enzymatic degradation of organic matter in the upper trophogenic layer in the pelagial zone of lakes along a eutrophication gradient

Abstract: The major aim of this study was to evaluate the relationships between the rates of microbial activities (phytoplankton primary production, bacterial secondary production, bacterial utilization of organic matter, enzymatic activities, protozoan grazing on bacteria), bacterial numbers, and dissolved organic carbon concentrations and the trophic state index (TSI) of lakes in the upper trophogenic water layer in the pelagial zone along the trophic gradient (from oligo/mesotrophy to hypereutrophy) in 19 lakes of the Mazurian Lake District (northeastern Poland). Multiple regression analysis (analysis of variance-ANOVA) on all collected data and the TSI along eutrophication gradient showed that all studied microbial processes and parameters were very tightly coupled to the trophic conditions of the studied lakes. All studied microbial processes involved in utilization and enzymatic degradation of organic matter were strongly positively dependent on the intensity and rates of photosynthetic organic matter production and exudation that markedly increased along the eutrophication gradient of lakes. V max of alkaline phosphatase, aminopeptidase, and nonspecific esterase showed significant correlation with the TSI of the studied lakes. Protozoans removed a significant portion of bacterial production, i.e., from ∼20% to 75-85% of newly produced bacterial biomass was simultaneously consumed by protozoans along the eutrophication gradient. These observations suggest that the importance of protozoan grazing on bacteria on regulation of bacterial production depends on lake productivity. The general working hypothesis that the intensity of microbial processes of organic matter can be tightly coupled to increasing eutrophication was proven in these studies.

Latitudinal variation in plankton size spectra in the Atlantic Ocean

Abstract: The size distribution of the pelagic community has the potential to compare ecosystems with different species composition as well as to identify the main functional properties of the system. Plankton size spectra are an effective approach of summarising the size structure of the community and have the potential to indicate the transfer of energy up the trophic food web. However, data on which open ocean plankton biomass-size structure can be constructed are scarce. Here we present the latitudinal distribution in the Atlantic Ocean of normalised biomass-size spectra (NB-S), plankton biomass and abundance, as well as mean zooplankton size between 70°N and 50°S. Samples were collected from three Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) cruises during May/June 2003, September/October 2003 and April/June 2004, as well as from a Marine Productivity (MarProd) cruise farther north in the Irminger Sea during spring 2002. The biomass-size distribution covered a body size range from nano- to mesoplankton and was based on a depth range of 50–0 m on the AMT and 120–0 m on the Irminger Sea cruise. The distribution of normalised biomass versus size was linear on a double log plot at all of the 95 stations. The slopes of the NB-S spectra ranged from −0.93 to −1.26 and −1.12 to −1.46 on the AMT and Irminger Sea cruises, respectively. A “dome-shaped” pattern in the slopes of community size spectra was observed in the Atlantic, indicating a decrease in the trophic transfer efficiency of energy with increasing latitude and phytoplankton biomass. Mesozooplankton biomass, abundance, and mean size followed a distribution similar to ecosystem productivity.

Benthic bacterial and fungal productivity and carbon turnover in a freshwater marsh.

Abstract: Heterotrophic bacteria and fungi are widely recognized as crucial mediators of carbon, nutrient, and energy flow in ecosystems, yet information on their total annual production in benthic habitats is lacking. To assess the significance of annual microbial production in a structurally complex system, we measured production rates of bacteria and fungi over an annual cycle in four aerobic habitats of a littoral freshwater marsh. Production rates of fungi in plant litter were substantial (0.2 to 2.4 mg C g(-1) C) but were clearly outweighed by those of bacteria (2.6 to 18.8 mg C g(-1) C) throughout the year. This indicates that bacteria represent the most actively growing microorganisms on marsh plant litter in submerged conditions, a finding that contrasts strikingly with results from both standing dead shoots of marsh plants and submerged plant litter decaying in streams. Concomitant measurements of microbial respiration (1.5 to 15.3 mg C-CO2 g(-1) of plant litter C day(-1)) point to high microbial growth efficiencies on the plant litter, averaging 45.5%. The submerged plant litter layer together with the thin aerobic sediment layer underneath (average depth of 5 mm) contributed the bulk of microbial production per square meter of marsh surface (99%), whereas bacterial production in the marsh water column and epiphytic biofilms was negligible. The magnitude of the combined production in these compartments (approximately 1,490 g C m(-2) year(-1)) highlights the importance of carbon flows through microbial biomass, to the extent that even massive primary productivity of the marsh plants (603 g C m(-2) year(-1)) and subsidiary carbon sources (approximately 330 g C m(-2) year(-1)) were insufficient to meet the microbial carbon demand. These findings suggest that littoral freshwater marshes are genuine hot spots of aerobic microbial carbon transformations, which may act as net organic carbon importers from adjacent systems and, in turn, emit large amounts of CO2 (here, approximately 870 g C m(-2) year(-1)) into the atmosphere.

Substratum as a Driver of Variation in Periphyton Chlorophyll and Productivity in Lakes

Abstract: Quantifying periphyton (attached algal) contributions to autotrophic production in lakes is confounded by properties of substratum that affect community biomass (as chlorophyll content) and productivity. We compared chlorophyll content and productivity of natural algal communities (phytoplankton, epipelon, epilithon, epixylon, and epiphyton) experiencing high (.10%) incident radiation in lakes in the US, Greenland, and Quebec, Canada. Chlorophyll content and productivity differed significantly among regions, but they also differed consistently among communities independent of region. Chlorophyll content of periphyton on hard substrata (rocks and wood) was positively related to water- column total P (TP), whereas chlorophyll content of algae on sediment (epipelon) and TP were not significantly related. Chlorophyll content was up to 1003 higher on sediments than on hard substrata. Within regions, chlorophyll-specific primary productivity was highest for phytoplankton and lowest for epipelon. Periphyton on hard substrata and on macrophytes (epiphyton) had similar rates of chlorophyll- specific productivity that were intermediate to those of epipelon and phytoplankton. Area-specific productivity of epipelon was 5 to 103 higher than area-specific productivity of periphyton on hard substrata. This broad geographic comparison indicates that, in low to moderately productive lakes under high-light conditions, algal communities have predictable differences in area-specific and chlorophyll- specific productivity based on substratum. As such, chlorophyll alone is an inadequate predictor of the relative contributions of different algal communities to total primary production. Our results highlight the importance of the relative abundance and spatial distributions of substrata in determining the role of the littoral zones in nutrient and energy cycles in lakes.

Ecosystem allometry: the scaling of nutrient stocks and primary productivity across plant communities.

Abstract: A principal challenge in ecology is to integrate physiological function (e.g. photosynthesis) across a collection of individuals (e.g. plants of different species) to understand the functioning of the entire ensemble (e.g. primary productivity). The control that organism size exerts over physiological and ecological function suggests that allometry could be a powerful tool for scaling ecological processes across levels of organization. Here we use individual plant allometries to predict how nutrient content and productivity scale with total plant biomass (phytomass) in whole plant communities. As predicted by our model, net primary productivity as well as whole community nitrogen and phosphorus content all scale allometrically with phytomass across diverse plant communities, from tropical forest to arctic tundra. Importantly, productivity data deviate quantitatively from the theoretically derived prediction, and nutrient productivity (production per unit nutrient) of terrestrial plant communities decreases systematically with increasing total phytomass. These results are consistent with the existence of pronounced competitive size hierarchies. The previously undocumented generality of these 'ecosystem allometries' and their basis in the structure and function of individual plants will likely provide a useful quantitative framework for research linking plant traits to ecosystem processes.

Beta diversity and the scale‐dependence of the productivity‐diversity relationship: a test in the Californian serpentine flora

Abstract: Summary 1 The relationship of productivity to species diversity is usually positive at regional scales, but is often neutral, unimodal or negative at local spatial scales. Recent studies have pointed out that beta diversity, or among-locality and within-region variation in species composition, must therefore tend to increase with productivity. 2 We tested for a positive relationship of productivity to beta diversity in herbaceous plants at 105 widely distributed sites on serpentine soil in California. We also asked whether any such pattern could be explained, as previously proposed, by increased environmental heterogeneity at higher levels of productivity. 3 We found that one measure of beta diversity (the species dissimilarity between paired 500 m2 plots on adjacent north and south slopes) was positively related to productivity (as measured by the normalized difference vegetation index, a remotely sensed index). However, this effect was not strong enough to transform the neutral relationship of productivity with alpha (1 m2) diversity to a positive relationship of productivity with gamma (1000 m2) diversity. 4 The positive effect of productivity on beta diversity was not related to increasing heterogeneity in coarse measures of vegetation structure (percentage cover of shade, litter, rocks, moss, bare soil, animal disturbance). We speculate that the effect may instead have a ‘top-down’ explanation: higher beta diversity may be caused by the positive influence of productivity on the size of the regional species pool. 5 Our study illustrates the principle of a ‘scale transition’, in which an ecological pattern is qualitatively different at different spatial scales. Careful attention to scale-dependence may help narrow the search for mechanisms for such long-studied ecological puzzles as the latitudinal diversity gradient.

Effects of light on NO3− uptake in small forested streams: diurnal and day-to-day variations

Abstract: We investigated the effects of autotrophy on short-term variations in nutrient dynamics by measuring diurnal and day-to-day variations in light level, primary productivity, and NO3− uptake during early and late spring in 2 forested streams, the East and West Forks of Walker Branch in eastern Tennessee, USA. We predicted that diurnal and day-to-day variations in NO3− uptake rate would be larger in the West Fork than in the East Fork in early spring because of higher rates of primary productivity resulting from a more stable substratum in the West Fork. We also predicted minimal diurnal variations in both streams in late spring after forest leaf emergence when light levels and primary productivity are uniformly low. Reach-scale rates of gross primary production (GPP) were determined using the diurnal dissolved O2 change technique, and reach-scale rates of NO3− uptake were determined by tracer 15N-NO3− additions. In the West Fork, significant diurnal and day-to-day variations in NO3− uptake were rela...

Variation in the transfer of energy in marine plankton along a productivity gradient in the Atlantic Ocean

Abstract: Plankton play a key role in oceanic carbon flux as the primary biological mechanism for the sequestration of carbon out of the atmosphere into surface waters. The transfer of energy between phytoplankton and zooplankton can be inferred from regular patterns in population size structure, where plots of abundance within size classes typically show a power-law dependence on size. Here we analyze such picoplankton to mesozooplankton size spectra along a 50°N to 50°S transect in the Atlantic. Contrary to common perception, the transfer efficiency in the oceans is not related to ecosystem productivity. Our results challenge the view that biomass transfer efficiency is lower in oligotrophic oceanic ecosystems. This suggests that global carbon flux models should reconsider the trophic transfer efficiency of productive and oligotrophic areas.

Use of a hydrotechnical infrastructure (Alqueva Dam) to regulate planktonic assemblages in the Guadiana estuary: Basis for sustainable water and ecosystem services management

Abstract: The phytoplankton and zooplankton assemblages in the Guadiana estuary (south Portugal) were compared in two contrasting hydrologic years, characterized by high and low freshwater discharges. Changes in salinity, nutrients and turbidity, which were mainly due to the changes in freshwater input, had an important influence on the structure of the planktonic assemblages. Nevertheless, coastal upwelling can also influence the productivity of the lower estuarine area during short periods both in winter and in summer. In 2000, a short-term freshwater pulse during May (average 126.46 m 3 s � 1 ) was markedly beneficial; phytoplanktonic diversity increased, and this caused an increase in zooplanktonic diversity. As phyto-zooplankton coupling in these systems is an important regulator of processes in the trophic web, changes in the dominant groups can have consequences on water quality, especially on the occurrence of toxic plankton blooms. Modelling simulations indicate that a day discharge of 50 m 3 s � 1 , every week during critical periods, such as summer/autumn, could be enough to avoid cyanobacteria blooms. Since freshwater ‘‘pulses’’ can be managed by operating the freshwater release from hydrotechnical structures, understanding the relationships between the periodicity and magnitude of inflow pulse events and the estuarine ecosystem structure and healthy functioning is a crucial step towards the development of management modelling tools, as proposed in this study. 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Controls on the distribution of productivity and organic resources in Antarctic Dry Valley soils.

Abstract: The Antarctic Dry Valleys are regarded as one of the harshest terrestrial habitats on Earth because of the extremely cold and dry conditions. Despite the extreme environment and scarcity of conspicuous primary producers, the soils contain organic carbon and heterotrophic micro-organisms and invertebrates. Potential sources of organic compounds to sustain soil organisms include in situ primary production by micro-organisms and mosses, spatial subsidies from lacustrine and marine-derived detritus, and temporal subsidies (‘legacies’) from ancient lake deposits. The contributions from these sources at different sites are likely to be influenced by local environmental conditions, especially soil moisture content, position in the landscape in relation to lake level oscillations and legacies from previous geomorphic processes. Here we review the abiotic factors that influence biological activity in Dry Valley soils and present a conceptual model that summarizes mechanisms leading to organic resources therein.

Phytoplankton blooms and nitrogen productivity in San Francisco Bay

Abstract: San Francisco Bay has been considered an HNLC or HNLG (high nutrient low chlorophyll or low growth) region with nonlimiting concentrations of inorganic nutrients yet low standing stocks of phytoplankton. Most of the studies leading to this conclusion come from the South Bay and little is known about nutrient processes and phytoplankton productivity in the northern and central parts of the estuary. Data collected over 3 yr (1999–2003) in Suisun, San Pablo, and Central Bays describe the availability of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), silicate, and phosphate and the seasonal variability in phytoplankton abundance. Rate measurements of fractionated nitrogen productivity provide the relative contributions of different forms of DIN (ammonium and nitrate) and different sized phytoplankton to the development of seasonal phytoplankton blooms. Regional differences in bloom dynamics are observed with Suisun Bay, the least saline, highest nutrient, most turbid region having less phytoplankton biomass and productivity than San Pablo and Central Bays, except in the abnormally wet spring of 2000. Spring blooms in San Francisco Bay are driven primarily by high rates of nitrate uptake by larger phytoplankton cells following a period of increased ammonium uptake that depletes the ambient ammonium. The smaller occasional fall blooms are apparently flueled mostly by ammonium uptake by small sized phytoplankton. The data suggest that the HNLC condition in the northern and central parts of San Francisco Bay is due primarily to light availability modulated by the interaction between ammonium and nitrate, and the relative amounts of the two forms of the DIN pool available to the phytoplankton.

Ecological Values of Shallow-Water Habitats: Implications for the Restoration of Disturbed Ecosystems

Abstract: A presumed value of shallow-habitat enhanced pelagic productivity derives from the principle that in nutrient-rich aquatic systems phytoplankton growth rate is controlled by light availability, which varies inversely with habitat depth. We measured a set of biological indicators across the gradient of habitat depth within the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta (California) to test the hypothesis that plankton biomass, production, and pelagic energy flow also vary systematically with habitat depth. Results showed that phytoplankton biomass and production were only weakly related to phytoplankton growth rates whereas other processes (transport, consumption) were important controls. Distribution of the invasive clam Corbicula fluminea was patchy, and heavily colonized habitats all supported low phytoplankton biomass and production and functioned as food sinks. Surplus primary production in shallow, uncolonized habitats provided potential subsidies to neighboring recipient habitats. Zooplankton in deeper habitats, where grazing exceeded phytoplankton production, were likely supported by significant fluxes of phytoplankton biomass from connected donor habitats. Our results provide three important lessons for ecosystem science: (a) in the absence of process measurements, derived indices provide valuable information to improve our mechanistic understanding of ecosystem function and to benefit adaptive management strategies; (b) the benefits of some ecosystem functions are displaced by water movements, so the value of individual habitat types can only be revealed through a regional perspective that includes connectedness among habitats; and (c) invasive species can act as overriding controls of habitat function, adding to the uncertainty of management outcomes.