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Nutrient recycling by insect and fish communities in high-elevation tropical streams

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Abstract

High- to mid-elevation streams are often oligotrophic, but harbor diverse groups of aquatic animals that can satisfy a substantial proportion of nutrient demand. Therefore, we tested the proportion of nutrient demand met by two dominant guilds of animal consumers in the Andes to ask: (1) Do excretion rates vary between insects and fish in montane tropical stream ecosystems? (2) What consumer guild dominates areal nutrient regeneration? (3) What is the nutrient demand and what proportion are consumer taxa regenerating? We combined aquatic insect and fish biomass estimates with measured excretion rates of two fish species (one native, one introduced) and six aquatic insects and estimated nutrient demand in streams by conducting nutrient uptake measurements. Insect taxa had higher per-capita excretion rates than fish and had higher excretion N:P. Aquatic insect biomass tended to be higher than fish biomass and consequently total areal excretion rates by insects were higher. Collectively, communities contributed up to 15–24% of NH4–N demand and 1–19% of SRP demand. The additive effect of these groups on nutrient availability is likely an important function in low-nutrient tropical streams. Further work needs to be conducted to examine the interactions within entire communities and consequential impacts on nutrient cycling.

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Acknowledgements

This work would not have been possible without Daniela Cueva, Marisa Rojas, Will Roberts, and Keith Shane’s hard work in the field and lab. LeRoy Poff and Amanda Rugenski contributed to discussions regarding this work. Halvor Halvorson, Amanda Rugenski, and two anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments and suggestions on a previous version of this manuscript. Collecting permit N° 01-IC-FAU/FLO-DPAN/MA authorized by the Ministerio del Ambiente of Ecuador facilitated this work. This paper was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation through a collaborative Dimensions of Biodiversity grant through the Division of Environmental Biology (DEB) Award Numbers: DEB-1046408, DEB-1045960, and DEB-1045991.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, 300 Hackberry Lane, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA

    Carla L. Atkinson

  2. Department of Environmental Science, Heritage University, Toppenish, WA, 98948, USA

    Alexander V. Alexiades

  3. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    Keeley L. MacNeill & Alexander S. Flecker

  4. Instituto BIOSFERA, Laboratorio de Ecología Acuática, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador

    Andrea C. Encalada

  5. School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, 68583, USA

    Steve A. Thomas

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  1. Carla L. Atkinson
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Correspondence to Carla L. Atkinson.

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Atkinson, C.L., Alexiades, A.V., MacNeill, K.L. et al. Nutrient recycling by insect and fish communities in high-elevation tropical streams. Hydrobiologia 838, 13–28 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-019-03973-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-019-03973-9

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