Abstract
The effect of periphyton biomass on hydraulic characteristics and nutrient cycling was studied in laboratory streams with and without snail herbivores. Hydraulic characteristics, such as average water velocity, dispersion coefficients, and relative volume of transient storage zones (zones of stationary water), were quantified by performing short-term injections of a conservative tracer and fitting an advection-dispersion model to the conservative tracer concentration profile downstream from the injection site. Nutrient cycling was quantified by measuring two indices: (1) uptake rate of phosphorus from stream water normalized to gross primary production (GPP), a surrogate measure of total P demand, and (2) turnover rate of phosphorus in the periphyton matrix. These measures indicate the importance of internal cycling (within the periphyton matrix) in meeting the P demands of periphyton. Dense growths of filamentous diatoms and blue-green algae accumulated in the streams with no snails (high-biomass streams), whereas the periphyton communities in streams with snails consisted almost entirely of a thin layer of basal cells of Stigeoclonium sp. (low-biomass streams). Dispersion coefficients were significantly greater and transient storage zones were significantly larger in the high-biomass streams compared to the low-biomass streams. Rates of GPP-normalized P uptake from water and rates of P turnover in periphyton were significantly lower in high biomass than in low biomass periphyton communities, suggesting that a greater fraction of the P demand was met by recycling in the high biomass communities. Increases in streamwater P concentration significantly increased GPP-normalized P uptake in high biomass communities, suggesting diffusion limitation of nutrient transfer from stream water to algal cells in these communities. Our results demonstrate that accumulations of periphyton biomass can alter the hydraulic characteristics of streams, particularly by increasing transient storage zones, and can increase internal nutrient cycling. They suggest a close coupling of hydraulic characteristics and nutrient cycling processes in stream ecosystems.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Public Health Association (1989) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 17th edn. American Public Health Association, Washington DC
Bencala KE, Kennedy VC, Zellweger GW, Jackman AP, Avanzino RJ (1984) Interactions of solutes and streambed sediment 1. an experimental analysis of cation and anion transport in a mountain stream. Water Resour Res 20: 1797–1803
Bencala KE (1984) Interactions of solutes and streambed sediment 2. A dynamic analysis of coupled hydrologic and chemical processes that determine solute transport. Water Resour Res 20: 1804–1814
Bencala KE, Walters RA (1983) Simulation of solute transport in a mountain pool-and-riffle stream: a transient storage model. Water Resour Res 19: 718–724
Biggs BJF, Close ME (1989) Periphyton biomass dynamics in gravel bed rivers: the relative effects of flows and nutrients. Freshwater Biol 22: 209–231
Bothwell ML (1989) Phosphorus-limited growth dynamics of lotic periphytic diatom communities: areal biomass and cellular growth rate responses. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 46: 1293–1301
Busch DE, Fisher SG (1981) Metabolism of a desert stream. Freshwater Biol 11: 301–307
D'Angelo DJ, Webster JR, Benfield EF (1991) Mechanisms of stream phosphorus retention: an experimental study. J N Am Benthol Soc 10: 225–237
Angelo DJ, Webster JR, Gregory SV, Meyer JL (1993) Transient storage in Appalachian and Cascade mountain streams as related to hydraulic characteristics. J N Am Benthol Soc 12: 223–235
DeAngelis DL, Loreau M, Neergaard D, Mulholland PJ, Marzolf ER (in press) Modeling nutrient-periphyton dynamics in streams: the importance of transient storage zones. Ecol Modeling
Gantzer CJ, Rittmann BE, Herricks EE (1988) Mass transport to streambed biofilms. Water Res 22: 709–722
Grimm NB (1987) Nutrogen dynamics during succession in a desert stream. Ecology 68: 1157–1170
Harvey JW, Bencala KE (1993) The effect of streambed topography on surface- subsurface water exchange in mountain catchments. Water Resour Res 29: 89–98
Hill WR, Boston HL, Steinman AD (1992) Grazers and nutrients simultaneously limit lotic primary productivity. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 49: 504–512
Horner RR, Welch EB (1981) Stream periphyton development in relation to current velocity and nutrients. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 38: 449–457
Kennedy VC, Jackman AP, Zand SM, Zellweger GW, Avanzino RJ (1984) Transport and concentration controls for chloride, strontium, potassium and lead in Uvas Creek, a small cobblebed stream in Santa Clara County, California, USA.
J Hydrol 75: 67–110
Kim BK, Jackman AP, Triska FJ (1990) Modeling transient storage and nitrate uptake kinetics in a flume containing a natural periphyton community. Wat Resour Res 26: 505–515
McCormick PV, Stevenson RJ (1991) Grazer control of nutrient availability in the periphyton. Oecologia 86: 287–291
Mulholland PJ, Rosemond AD (1992) Periphyton response to longitudinal nutrient depletion in a woodland stream: evidence of upstream-downstream linkage. J N Am Benthol Soc 11: 405–419
Mulholland PJ, Newbold JD, Elwood JW, Hom CL (1983) The effect of grazing intensity on phosphorus spiralling in autotrophic streams. Oecologia 58: 358–366
Mulholland PJ, Steinman AD, Palumbo AV, Elwood JW, Kirschtel DB (1991) Role of nutrient cycling and herbivory in regulating periphyton communities in laboratory streams. Ecology 72: 966–982
Paul BJ, Duthie HC (1989) Nutrient cycling in the epilithon of running waters. Can J Bot 67: 2302–2309
Peterson CG, Grimm NB (1992) Temporal variation in enrichment effects during periphyton succession in a nitrogen-limited desert stream ecosystem. J N Am Benthol Soc 11: 20–36
Rosemond AD (in press) Multiple factors limit seasonal variation in periphyton in a forest stream. J N Am Benthol Soc
SAS (1988) SAS user's guide, Version 6.03. SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA
Steinman AD (1992) Does an increase in irradiance influence periphyton in a heavily-grazed woodland stream? Oecologia 91: 163–170
Stream Solute Workshop (1990) Concepts and methods for assessing solute dynamics in stream ecosystems. J N Am Benthol Soc 9: 95–119
Triska FJ, Oremland RS (1981) Denitrification associated with periphyton communities. Appl Environ Microbiol 42: 745–748
Triska FJ, Kennedy VC, Avanzina RJ, Zellweger GW, Bencala KE (1989a) Retention and transport of nutrients in a third-order stream in northwestern California: channel processes. Ecology 70: 1877–1892
Triska FJ, Kennedy VC, Avanzina RJ, Zellweger GW, Bencala KE (1989b) Retention and transport of nutrients in a third-order stream in Northwestern California: hyporheic processes. Ecology 70: 1893–1905
Triska FJ, Duff JH, Avanzino RJ (1993) Patterns of hydrological exchange and nutrient transformation in the hyporheic zone of a gravel-bottom stream: examining terrestrial-aquatic linkages. Freshwater Biol 29: 259–274
Valett HM, Fisher SG, Grimm NB, Camill P (1994) Vertical hydrologic exchange and ecological stability of a desert stream ecosystem. Ecology 75: 548–560
Whitford LA, Schumacher GJ (1964) Effect of a current on respiration and mineral uptake in Spirogyra and Oedogonium. Ecology 45: 168–170
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mulholland, P.J., Steinman, A.D., Marzolf, E.R. et al. Effect of periphyton biomass on hydraulic characteristics and nutrient cycling in streams. Oecologia 98, 40–47 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00326088
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00326088