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Moderate nutrient enrichment affects algal and detritus pathways differently in a temperate rainforest stream

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Abstract

We manipulated nutrient concentrations in 14 channels adjacent to a forested headwater stream to examine the influence of nutrient enrichment on detrital and algal pathways. Our fertilization experiment increased the average water concentration of N up to a maximum of ~2 times and of P up to ~7 times relative to control channels, levels considered as moderate enrichment. We measured algal biomass and leaf mass loss as a proxy measure of primary production and leaf decomposition, respectively. We determined the effects of nutrients on the quantity and quality of food resources and tested whether these effects influenced biotic structure and stoichiometry. Our results indicate that algal pathways showed significant and consistent responses across treatments by increasing epilithon quantity and quality. Moreover, despite an increase in quality of leaves, its quantity and loss rate were unaltered. Importantly, changes to detritivore densities were subtle, but they showed a hump-shaped response along the induced nutrient gradient. This trend suggests the existence of nutrient limitation at low nutrient concentrations and the existence of negative biotic interactions and/or sublethal toxic effects at higher concentrations, while enhancing detritivore densities at intermediated enriched conditions (threshold at ~10 µg/l of P–PO4 in water and 0.10% of leaf-P). This study reveals the complexity of connections between algal and detritus pathways with implications in the study of transfer of matter and energy in oligotrophic, forested headwater streams.

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Acknowledgements

We greatly thank Kasey Moran, Katharine MacIntosh, and Liam Irwin for field and laboratory technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Animal Biology, Universidade de Vigo, 36310, Vigo, Spain

    Liliana García & Isabel Pardo

  2. Department of Ecology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, 59717, USA

    Wyatt F. Cross

  3. Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    John S. Richardson

Authors
  1. Liliana García
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  2. Isabel Pardo
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  3. Wyatt F. Cross
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  4. John S. Richardson
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Correspondence to Liliana García.

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Funding

This study was funded by a postdoctoral call (Plan IC 2011–2015, Xunta de Galicia) to L. García. Additional funding for field sampling and water chemistry was provided by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada) grant to J. S. Richardson.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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García, L., Pardo, I., Cross, W.F. et al. Moderate nutrient enrichment affects algal and detritus pathways differently in a temperate rainforest stream. Aquat Sci 79, 941–952 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-017-0543-2

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