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Effects of grazing on the quantity and quality of freshwater Aufwuchs

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Abstract

Qualitative and quantitative measures of the Aufwuchs (scum flora) on artificial substrates in situ were used to evaluate the effects of grazing by freshwater pulmonate snails in a shallow pond in southeastern Michigan. Grazer densities of ∼ 216 snails/m2 marked reduced standing crop so that after 45 days grazed substrata had 6.46 mg dry weight, 604 µg C and 4.18 µg chlorophyll a as compared to controls with 30.62 mg dry weight, 3699 µg C and 6.29 µg chlorophyll a, all on a per dm2 basis.

Grazing did not change carbon per mg dry matter but caused significant increases in both µg chlorophyll a (control, 0.206; and grazed, 0.649 µg chlorophyll a/mg dry weight, P < 0.01) and nitrogen (control, 8.3; and grazed, 24.2 µg N/mg dry weight, P < 0.001) after 45 days. Both abundance and diversity of the attached community was reduced by grazing from 24 taxa and 80,889 individuals/cm2 on control to 8 taxa and 501 individuals/cm2 on grazed substrates. Mean productivity of the Aufwuchs was significantly (P < 0.001) reduced by grazing from 76.3 µg C/(dm2·day) on control to 17.7 µg C/(dm2·day) on grazed substrata.

Snails were very efficient at clearing smooth surfaces of living cells, detritus, and particulate inorganic matter. There was little evidence of selectivity except for an apparent inability to remove some of the smallest cells (e.g. Cocconeis sp.) probably for mechanical reasons.

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Oakland University, 48063, Rochester, Michigan

    R. Douglas Hunter

  2. Marine Biological Laboratory, 02543, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

    R. Douglas Hunter

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Hunter, R.D. Effects of grazing on the quantity and quality of freshwater Aufwuchs. Hydrobiologia 69, 251–259 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00046800

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