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Toward an ecologically meaningful view of resource stoichiometry in DOM-dominated aquatic systems

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Author

Summary, in English

Research on nutrient controls of planktonic productivity tends to focus on a few standard fractions of inorganic or total nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). However, there is a wide range in the degree to which land-derived dissolved organic nutrients can be assimilated by biota. Thus, in systems where such fractions form a majority of the macronutrient resource pool, including many boreal inland waters and estuaries, our understanding of bacterio- and phytoplankton production dynamics remains limited. To adequately predict aquatic productivity in a changing environment, improved standard methods are needed for determining the sizes of active (bioavailable) pools of N, P and organic carbon (C). A synthesis of current knowledge suggests that variation in the C:N:P stoichiometry of bioavailable resources is associated with diverse processes that differentially influence the individual elements across space and time. Due to a generally increasing organic nutrient bioavailability from C to N to P, we hypothesize that the C:N and N:P of bulk resources often vastly overestimates the corresponding ratios of bioavailable resources. It is further proposed that basal planktonic production is regulated by variation in the source, magnitude and timing of terrestrial runoff, through processes that have so far been poorly described.

Publishing year

2015

Language

English

Pages

489-499

Publication/Series

Journal of Plankton Research

Volume

37

Issue

3

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Topic

  • Physical Geography

Keywords

  • nutrient limitation
  • dissolved organic matter
  • bioavailability
  • bacterioplankton production
  • phytoplankton primary production
  • basal resource stoichiometry

Status

Published

Project

  • Regulation of lake planktonic productivity by boreal terrestrial export of bioavailable carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0142-7873