Interactive Effects of Nutrient Reduction and Herbivory on Biomass, Taxonomic Structure, and P Uptake in Lotic Periphyton Communities

Abstract

Four treatments were imposed on eight laboratory streams in a factorial design to examine the roles of nutrient reduction and herbivory on periphyton communities. Treatments included two flow regimes (once-through flow or 90% recirculated water) and two levels of grazer density (1000 or 0∙m−2, using the snail Elimia clavaeformis). Periphyton biomass was significantly greater in streams without snails than in those with them, but water supply had no overall significant effect on biomass, even though inorganic P and N concentrations were significantly lower in recirculated than in once-through streams. Areal-specific P uptake rates (measured with 33P) were significantly greater on two dates in no-snail streams compared with snail streams, presumably because of the greater biomass levels in the former systems. Differences in biomass-specific P uptake rates were not significantly affected by either grazer density or water supply. Relative abundances of most algal species were unaffected by the water supply treatment, although percent biovolume of two Epithemia species was greater in no-snail, recirculated than in no-snail, once-through streams. Grazing activity dramatically reduced the percent biovolume of species with upright growth forms, resulting in dominance by species with prostrate growth forms.