Waiting for the snow to melt…
Nutrient cycling is crucial for proper functioning of aquatic ecosystems. Animals play an integral part of this process, especially in nutrient poor ecosystems such as the high elevation ponds at the Mexican Cut Nature Preserve. Nutrients such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are both limiting nutrients, and animal excretion increases the availability of these nutrients. We measured the excretion rates of common aquatic macroinvertebrates and the demand for nutrients in these pond ecosystems. We found excretion rates in aquatic macroinvertebrate taxa varied over several orders of magnitude for both nitrogen and phosphorus. It appeared that smaller taxa had higher mass-specific excretion rates, but we did not test these differences statistically. We compared nutrient demand between permanent and semi-permanent pond types, but did not observe any significant difference between the two. The macroinvertebrate community contributed significantly to pond N and P demand. Phosphorus contribution ranged from 25.5% to 67.7%, while macroinvertebrates contributed over 100% of N demand in all but one pond and as much as 352% of demand in one case. These results demonstrate the importance of these macroinvertebrate communities to nutrient cycling, and the potential consequences that climate driven changes in community composition could have on ecosystem functioning in these ponds.
Knowledge graph centered on Nutrient excretion rates of common aquatic taxa in with 27 nodes and 75 connections. Top connected: Gothic, Diptera, Nutrient availability and phytoplankton nutrient l, Ambystoma mavortium, aquatic insects.
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