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Phytoplankton food quality control of planktonic food web processes

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Abstract

We developed a mechanistic model of nutrient, phytoplankton, zooplankton and fish interactions to test the effects of phytoplankton food quality for herbivorous zooplankton on planktonic food web processes. When phytoplankton food quality is high strong trophic cascades suppress phytoplankton biomass, the zooplankton can withstand intense zooplanktivory, and energy is efficiently transferred through the food web sustaining higher trophic level production. Low food quality results in trophic decoupling at the plant-animal interface, with phytoplankton biomass determined primarily by nutrient availability, zooplankton easily eliminated by fish predation, and poor energy transfer through the food web. At a given nutrient availability, food quality and zooplanktivory interact to determine zooplankton biomass which in turn determines algal biomass. High food quality resulted in intense zooplankton grazing which favored fast-growing phytoplankton taxa, whereas fish predation favored slow-growing phytoplankton. These results suggest algal food quality for herbivorous zooplankton can strongly influence the nature of aquatic food web dynamics, and can have profound effects on water quality and fisheries production.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by NSF grant DEB-0075616 to MTB and a University of Washington Valle Scandinavian Exchange Fellowship to MGD.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Box 352700, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA

    Marta G. Danielsdottir & Michael T. Brett

  2. Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto, M1C 1A4, Toronto, ON, Canada

    George B. Arhonditsis

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  1. Marta G. Danielsdottir
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  2. Michael T. Brett
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Correspondence to Michael T. Brett.

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Handling editor: D. Hamilton

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Danielsdottir, M.G., Brett, M.T. & Arhonditsis, G.B. Phytoplankton food quality control of planktonic food web processes. Hydrobiologia 589, 29–41 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-007-0714-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-007-0714-6

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