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Flow-mediated growth of an aquatic herbivore

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Abstract

Herbivorous macroinvertebrates make up a large fraction of secondary production in wetlands, but little is known about how water flow affects herbivorous macroinvertebrate production. Reintroducing measurable water flow (1–5 cm/s) to the oligotrophic (phosphorus-limited) Everglades has the potential to improve herbivorous macroinvertebrate production by providing a constant low supply of phosphorus (P) to periphyton and improving food quality. This study investigated potential effects of flow-mediated nutrient loading on growth rates of herbivorous grazers, juvenile apple snails (Pomacea maculata). Periphyton was grown on standard substrates, within a landscape-scale flow addition experiment, in two sloughs that received elevated velocities (3–5 cm/s) and two control sloughs. The flowing sloughs produced periphyton with greater biomass, higher concentrations of nutrients, and lower C:P ratios. Snails, in a laboratory setting, gained more than 3.7-fold greater total mass when fed periphyton from flowing sloughs than snails fed periphyton from control sloughs. Water column nutrients were slightly elevated in flowing sloughs, but the amount could not fully explain differences in periphyton nutrients or snail growth. Increasing flow above background conditions improved food quality, which subsequently increased growth rates. Restoring flow has the potential to increase nutrient accessibility that could enhance food webs, but additional study will be needed to determine whether increased growth rates translate into increased standing stocks.

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Data availability

Datasets from this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

Code was written in R v3.6.2 using libraries “car‚” “dplyr‚” “Hmisc‚” and “ggplot.” Code used for this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Nick Gadbois and Lisa Jackson for their assistance in the field. Funding for the work was provided by an agreement between the South Florida Water Management District and Florida Atlantic University (#4600003624 to N. J. Dorn); the FIU Center for Aquatic Chemistry and Environment Nutrient Analysis Core Facility for running the nutrient analysis on the periphyton samples; and the SFWMD chemistry lab for analyzing the water quality samples. This is contribution #1458 of the Freshwater Resources Division of the Institute of Environment at Florida International University.

Funding

Funding for the work was provided by an agreement between the South Florida Water Management District and Florida Atlantic University (#4600003624 to N. J. Dorn).

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  1. Nathan J. Dorn

    Present address: Institute of Environment and Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, FL, 33199, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, Davie, FL, 33314, USA

    Chris Hansen & Nathan J. Dorn

  2. South Florida Water Management District, West Palm Beach, FL, 33411, USA

    Sue Newman, Colin J. Saunders & Erik K. Tate-Boldt

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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by CH. The first draft of the manuscript was written by CH, but all authors commented and edited the manuscript throughout the process. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

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Hansen, C., Newman, S., Saunders, C.J. et al. Flow-mediated growth of an aquatic herbivore. Hydrobiologia 849, 3161–3173 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-022-04923-8

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