No abstract

Microbial communities associated with submerged detritus in aquatic ecosystems often comprise a diverse mixture of autotrophic and heterotrophic microbes, including algae, bacteria, protozoa, and fungi. Recent studies have documented increased rates of plant litter mass loss when periphytic algae are present. We conducted laboratory and field experiments to assess potential metabolic interactions between natural autotrophic and heterotrophic microbial communities inhabiting submerged decaying plant litter of Typha angustifolia and Schoenoplectus acutus. In the field, submerged plant litter was either exposed to natural sunlight or placed under experimental canopies that manipulated light availability and growth of periphytic algae. Litter was collected and returned to the laboratory, where algal photosynthesis was manipulated (light/dark incubation), while rates of bacterial and fungal growth and productivity were simultaneously quantified. Bacteria and fungi were rapidly stimulated by exposure to light, thus establishing the potential for algal priming of microbial heterotrophic decay activities. Experimental incubations of decaying litter with 14C- and 13C-bicarbonate established that inorganic C fixed by algal photosynthesis was rapidly transferred to and assimilated by heterotrophic microbial decomposers. Periphytic algal stimulation of microbial heterotrophs, especially fungal decomposers, is an important and largely unrecognized interaction within the detrital microbial landscape, which may transform our current conceptual understanding of microbial secondary production and organic matter decomposition in aquatic ecosystems.

In-situ, nutrient amendment experiments (nutrient-diffusing substrata, NDS) were conducted in 12 New Zealand gravel-bed streams to investigate seasonality of biomass accrual and nutrient limitation of benthic algal communities. Benthic algal biomass accrual rates exhibited significant (p = 0.019, repeated measures ANOVA) seasonal differences; rates were greatest in summer and least in winter. The degree of nutrient limitation also differed (p = 0.003) seasonally; periphyton community biomass was most responsive to nutrient amendments in summer and least responsive in winter. Temperature may be the underlying cause of these patterns. The ratios of dissolved inorganic nitrogen to soluble reactive phosphorus (DIN:SRP) in streamwater and of streambed periphyton communities were of limited use for predicting which nutrient limited NDS bioassays; cellular nutrient content was weakly predictive. This study demonstrates the need to consider temporal changes (i.e., seasonality) when assessing the influence of nutrients on stream ecosystems, and indicates that the use of nutrient ratios to ascertain which nutrient may limit benthic algal biomass should be validated with field experiments.

No abstract

No abstract