The hippopotamus conveyor belt: vectors of carbon and nutrients from terrestrial grasslands to aquatic systems in sub‐Saharan Africa

Subalusky, Amanda L.; Dutton, Christopher L.; Post, David M.

doi:10.1111/fwb.12474

Cited by 128 publications

(179 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…For instance, hippopotamus can act as ecosystem engineers that transport carbon and nutrients from savanna grasslands to aquatic ecosystems. Daily contribution of Hippopotamus amphibius population to Mara River were estimated up to 8,563 kg dry matter, 3,499 kg C, 48 kg P and 492 kg N [26]. And these nutrient subsidies were beneficial to aquatic invertebrate and fish [104].…”

Section: Impacts Of Aquatic Resource Subsidies On Specific Terrestriamentioning

confidence: 99%

Importance of Riparian Zone: Effects of Resource Availability at Land-water Interface

Xiang¹,

Zhang²,

Richardson³

2017

Riparian Ecology and Conservation

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Riparian zone provides a variety of resources to organisms, including availability of water and subsidies. Water availability in riparian areas influences species distribution and trophic interaction of terrestrial food webs. Cross-ecosystem subsidies as resource flux of additional energy, nutrients, and materials benefit riparian populations and communities (e.g. plants, spiders, lizards, birds and mammals). However, aquatic ecosystems and riparian zones are prone to anthropogenic disturbances, which change water availability and affect the flux dynamics of cross-system subsidies. Yet, we still lack sufficient empirical studies assessing impacts of disturbances of land use, climate change and invasive species individually and interactively on aquatic and riparian ecosystems through influencing subsidy resource availability. In filling this knowledge gap, we can make more effective efforts to protect and conserve riparian habitats and biodiversity, and maintain riparian ecosystem functioning and services.

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Section: Impacts Of Aquatic Resource Subsidies On Specific Terrestriamentioning

confidence: 99%

Importance of Riparian Zone: Effects of Resource Availability at Land-water Interface

Xiang¹,

Zhang²,

Richardson³

2017

Riparian Ecology and Conservation

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“…Terrestrial predators (e.g., bears, otters, and eagles) feeding on anadromous fish that move from the ocean to freshwater to spawn can transport ocean-derived nutrients to terrestrial ecosystems, a process that has been verified by isotopic analysis (11). Hippopotamuses (Hippopotamus amphibius) supplement aquatic systems with terrestrial-derived nutrients, which strongly enhance aquatic productivity (12). Seabirds transport nutrients from the sea to their breeding colonies onshore (13,14).…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Global nutrient transport in a world of giants

Doughty

Roman

Faurby

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

359

333

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The past was a world of giants, with abundant whales in the sea and large animals roaming the land. However, that world came to an end following massive late-Quaternary megafauna extinctions on land and widespread population reductions in great whale populations over the past few centuries. These losses are likely to have had important consequences for broad-scale nutrient cycling, because recent literature suggests that large animals disproportionately drive nutrient movement. We estimate that the capacity of animals to move nutrients away from concentration patches has decreased to about 8% of the preextinction value on land and about 5% of historic values in oceans. For phosphorus (P), a key nutrient, upward movement in the ocean by marine mammals is about 23% of its former capacity (previously about 340 million kg of P per year). Movements by seabirds and anadromous fish provide important transfer of nutrients from the sea to land, totalling ∼150 million kg of P per year globally in the past, a transfer that has declined to less than 4% of this value as a result of the decimation of seabird colonies and anadromous fish populations. We propose that in the past, marine mammals, seabirds, anadromous fish, and terrestrial animals likely formed an interlinked system recycling nutrients from the ocean depths to the continental interiors, with marine mammals moving nutrients from the deep sea to surface waters, seabirds and anadromous fish moving nutrients from the ocean to land, and large animals moving nutrients away from hotspots into the continental interior. There were giants in the world in those days.Genesis 6:4, King James version T he past was a world of giants, with abundant whales in the oceans and terrestrial ecosystems teeming with large animals. However, most ecosystems lost their large animals, with around 150 mammal megafaunal (here, defined as ≥44 kg of body mass) species going extinct in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene (1, 2). These extinctions and range declines continued up through historical times and, in many cases, into the present (3). No global extinctions are known for any marine whales, but whale densities might have declined between 66% and 99% (4-6). Some of the largest species have experienced severe declines; for example, in the Southern Hemisphere, blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) have been reduced to 1% of their historical numbers as a result of commercial whaling (4). Much effort has been devoted to determining the cause of the extinctions and declines, with less effort focusing on the ecological impacts of the extinctions. Here, we focus on the ecological impacts, with a specific focus on how nutrient dynamics may have changed on land following the lateQuaternary megafauna extinctions, and in the sea and air following historical hunting pressures.Most biogeochemists studying nutrient cycling focus on in situ production, such as weathering or biological nitrogen (N) fixation, largely ignoring lateral fluxes by animals because they are considered of secondary importance (...

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“…By foraging and resting in terrestrial and aquatic environments, herbivores provide aquaticterrestrial linkages, transporting carbon, nutrients and contaminants from land to water (for instance hippopotamus Hippopotamus amphibius (Subalusky et al, 2015), waterbirds (Hahn et al, 2008;Chaichana et al, 2010) In seagrass meadows, grazing by mesoherbivores can increase productivity and possibly carbon sequestration. However below-ground grazing (e.g.…”

Section: Biogeochemical Cyclingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Herbivory on freshwater and marine macrophytes: A review and perspective

et al. 2016

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on freshwater and marine macrophytes: a review and perspective.Aquatic Botany http://dx.doi.org/10. 1016/j.aquabot.2016.04.008 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. AbstractUntil the 1990s, herbivory on aquatic vascular plants was considered to be of minor importance, and the predominant view was that freshwater and marine macrophytes did not take part in the food web: their primary fate was the detritivorous pathway. In the last 25 years, a substantial body of evidence has developed that shows that herbivory is an important factor in the ecology of vascular macrophytes across freshwater and marine habitats. Herbivores remove on average 40-48% of plant biomass in freshwater and marine ecosystems, which is typically 5-10 times greater than reported for terrestrial ecosystems. This may be explained by the lower C:N stoichiometry found in submerged plants.Herbivores affect plant abundance and species composition by grazing and bioturbation and therewith alter the functioning of aquatic ecosystems, including biogeochemical cycling, carbon stocks and primary production, transport of nutrients and propagules across ecosystem boundaries, habitat for other organisms and the level of shoreline protection by macrophyte beds.With ongoing global environmental change, herbivore impacts are predicted to increase.There are pressing needs to improve our management of undesirable herbivore impacts on macrophytes (e.g. leading to an ecosystem collapse), and the conflicts between people 4 associated with the impacts of charismatic mega-herbivores. While simultaneously, the longterm future of maintaining both viable herbivore populations and plant beds should be addressed, as both belong in complete ecosystems and have co-evolved in these long before the increasing influence of man. Better integration of the freshwater, marine, and terrestrial herbivory literatures would greatly benefit future research efforts.

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The hippopotamus conveyor belt: vectors of carbon and nutrients from terrestrial grasslands to aquatic systems in sub‐Saharan Africa

Cited by 128 publications

References 54 publications

Importance of Riparian Zone: Effects of Resource Availability at Land-water Interface

Importance of Riparian Zone: Effects of Resource Availability at Land-water Interface

Global nutrient transport in a world of giants

Herbivory on freshwater and marine macrophytes: A review and perspective

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