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Tracing Consumer-Derived Nitrogen in Riverine Food Webs

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Abstract

The flux of consumer-derived nutrients is recognized as an important ecosystem process, yet few studies have quantified the impact of these fluxes on freshwater ecosystems. The high abundance of bivalves in both marine and freshwater suggests that bivalves can exert large effects on aquatic food webs. The objective of our study was to determine the importance of unionid mussel-derived nitrogen (MDN) to the food web. We used a stable isotope tracer approach in conjunction with nutrient uptake and excretion experiments. We fed mussels (Lampsilis siliquiodea, n = 249) a 15N-enriched algal diet and placed them into a N-limited stream for 63 days. Mussel hemolymph was non-lethally sampled over the course of the experiment to measure tissue turnover of δ15N and excretion experiments were done to model the amount of N mussels provided in comparison to stream N uptake demand. Multiple food web pools were sampled twice prior and five times following the mussel addition to trace the 15N through the food web. Our mussel excretion rates in comparison to areal uptake demand suggested that mussel excretion can account for 40% of the total N demand in this stream. Our enrichment showed that MDN was entering the food web and supplied up to 19% of the N in specific compartments of the food web near the mussel bed. When scaled to a natural mussel aggregation, our results suggest up to 74% of N in the food web may be mussel-derived. Our results show that N supplied by mussels can be an important nutrient subsidy that provides food web support.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Tiffany Crumrine for assistance with placing the mussels in the stream and sampling assistance. Jesse Tanner helped during one of the sampling periods. Robert Hall and Dan Allen both provided excellent advice prior to the experiment. Walter Dodds, Michael Patten, and Stephen Golladay provided invaluable comments on previous drafts of this manuscript. Ken Forshay at the Robert S. Kerr Laboratory provided the pumps and automatic samplers for the N uptake experiments, and Ashley McElmurry helped locate the equipment. C. Atkinson was supported in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Graduate Fellowship Program. EPA has not officially endorsed this publication, and the views expressed herein may not reflect the views of the EPA. This paper was completed as part of a dissertation at the University of Oklahoma and is a contribution to the program of the Oklahoma Biological Survey.

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  1. Oklahoma Biological Survey, Department of Biology & Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Graduate Program, University of Oklahoma, 111 E. Chesapeake St., Norman, Oklahoma, 73019, USA

    Carla L. Atkinson, Jeffrey F. Kelly & Caryn C. Vaughn

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  1. Carla L. Atkinson
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  2. Jeffrey F. Kelly
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  3. Caryn C. Vaughn
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Correspondence to Carla L. Atkinson.

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Author Contributions

CLA designed and carried out field research and sample processing, and performed all statistical analyses. JFK assisted with data analysis and sample processing. CCV assisted with the design of the study and with sample collection. CLA wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and all other authors contributed substantially to revisions.

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Atkinson, C.L., Kelly, J.F. & Vaughn, C.C. Tracing Consumer-Derived Nitrogen in Riverine Food Webs. Ecosystems 17, 485–496 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-013-9736-2

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