Patterns in the epilithic community of a lake littoral

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1. The algae and sedentary macroinvertebrates on the upper surface of stones from the littoral of Crosemere were investigated over 13 months. This lake is one of a series of eutrophic meres of glacial origin in the English Midlands.2. Stones were taken from shallow and deep areas in the littoral and from areas shaded by bankside trees and those away from trees. This gave four habitat types: open/shallow; open/deep; shade/shallow; shade/deep. Epilithic algae and sedentary macroinvertebrates from the upper surfaces of the stones were quantified monthly for each habitat type.3. Chlorophyll a and ash‐free dry mass both showed a strong seasonal pattern common to all habitat types, with a spring peak declining to a summer minimum, followed by a small autumn recovery, and a winter minimum.4. In terms of percentage cover, Cladophora glomerata showed a markedly different pattern. There were strong differences between habitat types, with shaded stones from the shallows, in particular, having very sparse Cladophora cover. In the open, Cladophora cover was high in summer and low at other times.5. The invertebrate community was dominated by retreat‐dwelling larvae of the psychomyiid caddis, Tinodes waeneri, and four species of chironomids with tube‐building larvae, Cricotopus sylvestris, Microtendipes pedellus, Glyptotendipes pallens and Endochironomus albipennis. For Tinodes, Cricotopus and Microtendipes, peaks of density occurred chiefly beneath trees in spring and summer.6. The seasonal pattern of algal abundance showed little relationship with that of invertebrate biomass. The ratio of chlorophyll a to ash‐free dry mass also declined in summer, despite the higher invertebrate biomass. This indicated that grazing was not the dominant factor diminishing algal abundance seasonally. It seems likely that algae were limited chiefly by physical factors, such as light and temperature, and by nutrients, particularly nitrates, which decline in summer in the epilimnion of the lake.7. Grazing may have contributed to spatial patchiness of algae in summer, however, particularly that of Cladophora. The scarcity of Cladophora on shallow, shaded stones coincided with a high abundance of Tinodes on these stones in early summer. Riparian trees could thus have affected epilithic algae, not only by shading but also indirectly through the supply of grazers.