2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference

March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH

6/08/2017 | 9:00 AM - 9:15 AM | CONTRIBUTIONS OF FISH AND MUSSEL COMMUNITIES TO NUTRIENT DYNAMICS | 306B

CONTRIBUTIONS OF FISH AND MUSSEL COMMUNITIES TO NUTRIENT DYNAMICS

Mussels and fish are known to generate nutrient hotspots, but whether aggregations of these two consumer groups overlap and interact to influence nutrient dynamics remains unexplored. Mussel beds create stable, long-term hotspots that may attract fishes by providing resource subsidies. Hence, we asked whether fish biomass is greater at stream reaches with mussel beds compared to reaches without mussel beds. Within mussel beds, we measured fish and mussel biomass and excretion rates to determine whether there are differences in their contribution to nutrient cycling. Fish biomass was homogeneously distributed in mussel and non-mussel reaches. Within mussel reaches, mussel biomass exceeded fish biomass. Consequently, mussel areal excretion rates were higher than those of fish. However, N:P excreted by fishes was lower than that of mussels. Future efforts will evaluate the more diffuse occurrences of fishes compared to the aggregated occurrences of mussels towards nutrient hotspots and ecosystem function.

C11 Community Ecology
C02 Fish and Other Aquatic Vertebrates
C25 Food Webs

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Presenters/Authors

Garrett Hopper (), Kansas State University, ghopper@ksu.edu;