EARLY HEARING DETECTION AND INTERVENTION VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
MARCH 2-5, 2021

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5/23/2018 | 9:30 AM - 9:45 AM | NUTRIENT ADDITIONS MODIFY EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE ON PRIMARY PRODUCER COMMUNITIES WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR ENERGY AND NUTRIENT FLUX THROUGH FOOD WEBS | 310 B

NUTRIENT ADDITIONS MODIFY EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE ON PRIMARY PRODUCER COMMUNITIES WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR ENERGY AND NUTRIENT FLUX THROUGH FOOD WEBS

Temperature and nutrient availability are ‘master variables’ that control organismal resource demand, metabolic rates, body size, and biotic interactions. While the independent effects of warming and nutrient supply on freshwater ecosystems are relatively well understood, few studies consider the combined and potentially interactive effects of these global-change drivers on food webs, especially at ecosystem scales. To examine temperature-nutrient interactions in natural communities, we compared macroscopic primary producer assemblages in four Icelandic streams that varied in temperature, under ambient nutrient concentrations and during 12-week experimental phosphorus-, and nitrogen -addition treatments. Under ambient conditions, the warmest stream was dominated by N2-fixing cyanobacteria (Nostoc spp.), while epilithic algal biomass was highest in cold streams. Phosphorus addition had no consistent effect on producer biomass at any temperature. Nitrogen addition strongly reduced Nostoc biomass across streams and increased epilithic algal biomass in warm, but not cold streams. As Nostoc is potentially inedible, these shifts represent a change in food quality and quantity, as more palatable primary producers replaced Nostoc. Our results show that interactions between warming and nutrients alter primary producer community structure, with potential consequences for energy and nutrient flux to higher trophic levels.

Temperature
Nitrogen
Algae

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Presenters/Authors

Kate Henderson (), Montana State University, kahenderson121@gmail.com;