Details zur Publikation

Kategorie Textpublikation
Referenztyp Zeitschriften
DOI 10.1007/s10021-015-9933-2
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Titel (primär) Weak response of animal allochthony and production to enhanced supply of terrestrial leaf litter in nutrient-rich lakes
Autor Mehner, T.; Attermeyer, K.; Brauns, M.; Brothers, S.; Diekmann, J.; Gaedke, U.; Grossart, H.-P.; Köhler, J.; Lischke, B.; Meyer, N.; Scharnweber, K.; Syväranta, J.; Vanni, M.J.; Hilt, S.
Quelle Ecosystems
Erscheinungsjahr 2016
Department FLOEK
Band/Volume 19
Heft 2
Seite von 311
Seite bis 325
Sprache englisch
Keywords stable isotopes; terrestrial subsidy; carbon budget; ecological efficiency; benthic food web; pelagic food web
UFZ Querschnittsthemen RU2;
Abstract Ecosystems are generally linked via fluxes of nutrients and energy across their boundaries. For example, freshwater ecosystems in temperate regions may receive significant inputs of terrestrially derived carbon via autumnal leaf litter. This terrestrial particulate organic carbon (POC) is hypothesized to subsidize animal production in lakes, but direct evidence is still lacking. We divided two small eutrophic lakes each into two sections and added isotopically distinct maize litter to the treatment sections to simulate increased terrestrial POC inputs via leaf litter in autumn. We quantified the reliance of aquatic consumers on terrestrial resources (allochthony) in the year subsequent to POC additions by applying mixing models of stable isotopes. We also estimated lake-wide carbon (C) balances to calculate the C flow to the production of the major aquatic consumer groups: benthic macroinvertebrates, crustacean zooplankton, and fish. The sum of secondary production of crustaceans and benthic macroinvertebrates supported by terrestrial POC was higher in the treatment sections of both lakes. In contrast, total secondary and tertiary production (supported by both autochthonous and allochthonous C) was higher in the reference than in the treatment sections of both lakes. Average aquatic consumer allochthony per lake section was 27–40%, although terrestrial POC contributed less than about 10% to total organic C supply to the lakes. The production of aquatic consumers incorporated less than 5% of the total organic C supply in both lakes, indicating a low ecological efficiency. We suggest that the consumption of terrestrial POC by aquatic consumers facilitates a strong coupling with the terrestrial environment. However, the high autochthonous production and the large pool of autochthonous detritus in these nutrient-rich lakes make terrestrial POC quantitatively unimportant for the C flows within food webs.
dauerhafte UFZ-Verlinkung https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=16763
Mehner, T., Attermeyer, K., Brauns, M., Brothers, S., Diekmann, J., Gaedke, U., Grossart, H.-P., Köhler, J., Lischke, B., Meyer, N., Scharnweber, K., Syväranta, J., Vanni, M.J., Hilt, S. (2016):
Weak response of animal allochthony and production to enhanced supply of terrestrial leaf litter in nutrient-rich lakes
Ecosystems 19 (2), 311 - 325 10.1007/s10021-015-9933-2