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Presented at the NABS Annual meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2002
in Periphyton
ALGAL SPECIES COMPOSITION: ECOLOGICAL RELEVANCE BEYOND BIOASSESSMENT.
C.G. Peterson. Department of Natural Science, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60626
The value of benthic algal species data in the assessment of past or present environmental conditions in aquatic ecosystems has been convincingly demonstrated in recent years. Less attention has been directed at the degree of influence that temporal and spatial variation in the identity of dominant algal species in periphyton assemblages has on ecosystem functioning. I will present data, gleaned from multiple systems, demonstrating spatial and temporal variation in algal species composition. I will then examine potential linkages between such variation and nutrient uptake, resistance to disturbance, and the transfer of energy between trophic levels. Implications of shifts in algal community structure on nitrogen dynamics within stream ecosystems will be assessed by tracking spatial and temporal changes in estimated population-specific N content for several species and modeling N transfer to higher trophic levels based on variation in ingestibility and digestibility.
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