What factors influence the species composition of phytoplankton in lakes of different trophic status?

The paper articulates some present concepts relating to the selection of phytoplankton along trophic gradients. Concerns over lake eutrophication have heightened the importance of nutrients but it is not obvious that interspecific differences in the nutrient requirements of algae genuinely segregate species except under chronic deficiencies. The selectivity supposedly generated by altered resource ratios is re-examined. It is argued that ratios explain very little of the distribution of species with respect to trophy. However, changing nutrient loading does have consequential impacts on the availability of other requirements including light and carbon dioxide. It is argued that the trophic spectrum is not a single dimension of a single factor but, rather, a template of factors covarying in consequence of the larger levels of biomass that are supported, and which weight in favour of the growth and survival prospects of particular kinds of planktonic algae. The trophic spectrum is a probabalistic outcome of several dimensions of variability.

[1]  W. Pearsall,et al.  The development of vegetation in the English lakes, considered in relation to the general evolution of glacial lakes and rock basins , 1921 .

[2]  Martin W. Johnson,et al.  The Oceans, Their Physics, Chemistry and General Biology , 1945 .

[3]  W. Rodhe,et al.  Environmental requirements of fresh-water plankton algae : experimental studies in the ecology of phytoplankton , 1949 .

[4]  J. Lund.  Studies on Asterionella Formosa Hass: II. Nutrient Depletion and the Spring Maximum , 1950 .

[5]  D. S. Rawson.  Algal Indicators of Trophic Lake Types , 1956 .

[6]  E. Swale.  The phytoplankton of Oak Mere, Cheshire, 1963–1966 , 1968 .

[7]  C. Burns.  RELATION BETWEEN FILTERING RATE, TEMPERATURE, AND BODY SIZE IN FOUR SPECIES OF DAPHNIA , 1969 .

[8]  J. Jones.  Studies on Freshwater Micro-Organisms: Phosphatase Activity in Lakes of Differing Degrees of Eutrophication , 1972 .

[9]  B. Moss,et al.  The Influence of Environmental Factors on the Distribution of Freshwater Algae: An Experimental Study: II. The Role of pH and the Carbon Dioxide-Bicarbonate System , 1973 .

[10]  R. Petersen.  The Paradox of the Plankton: An Equilibrium Hypothesis , 1975, The American Naturalist.

[11]  David Tilman,et al.  PHOSPHATE AND SILICATE GROWTH AND UPTAKE KINETICS OF THE DIATOMS ASTERIONELLA FORMOSA AND CYCLOTELLA MENEGHINIANA IN BATCH AND SEMICONTINUOUS CULTURE 1 , 1976 .

[12]  J. Talling,et al.  The depletion of carbon dioxide from lake water by phytoplankton , 1976 .

[13]  T. R. E. Southwood,et al.  HABITAT, THE TEMPLET FOR ECOLOGICAL STRATEGIES? , 1977 .

[14]  W. Lampert.  Studies on the carbon balance of Daphnia pulex de Geer as related to environmental conditions. 4. Determination of the threshold concentration as a factor controlling the abundance of zooplankton species , 1977 .

[15]  J. P. Grime,et al.  Plant Strategies and Vegetation Processes. , 1980 .

[16]  G. Rhee,et al.  OPTIMUM N:P RATIOS AND COEXISTENCE OF PLANKTONIC ALGAE 1 , 1980 .

[17]  C. Reynolds,et al.  Loss processes in the population dynamics of phytoplankton maintained in closed systems , 1982 .

[18]  David Tilman,et al.  Phytoplankton Community Ecology: The Role of Limiting Nutrients , 1982 .

[19]  C. Reynolds,et al.  Natural filtration rates of zooplankton in a closed system: the derivation of a community grazing index , 1982 .

[20]  C. Reynolds,et al.  Structure and dynamics of zooplankton communities maintained in closed systems, with special reference to the algal food supply , 1982 .

[21]  V. Smith,et al.  Low Nitrogen to Phosphorus Ratios Favor Dominance by Blue-Green Algae in Lake Phytoplankton , 1983, Science.

[22]  Colin S. Reynolds,et al.  Growth- and loss-rate responses of phytoplankton to intermittent artificial mixing and their potential application to the control of planktonic algal biomass , 1984 .

[23]  Anthea Riddolls.  Aspects of nitrogen fixation in Lough Neagh. II. Competition between Aphanizomenon flos‐aquae, Oscillatoria redekei and Oscillatoria agardhii , 1985 .

[24]  J. B. Reynolds,et al.  The atypical seasonality of phytoplankton in Crose Mere, 1972: an independent test of the hypothesis that variability in the physical environment regulates community dynamics and structure , 1985 .

[25]  A. Horne,et al.  Macronutrient controls on nitrogen fixation in planktonic cyanobacterial populations , 1987 .

[26]  D. Lean,et al.  The role of macronutrients (C, N, P) in controlling cyanobacterial dominance in temperate lakes , 1987 .

[27]  C. Reynolds,et al.  The phytoplankton of an enriched, soft-water lake subject to intermittent hydraulic flushing (Grasmere, English Lake District) , 1988 .

[28]  R. Crawford,et al.  Growth and reproductive strategies of freshwater phytoplankton , 1989 .

[29]  J. Shapiro,et al.  Current beliefs regarding dominance by blue-greens: The case for the importance of CO2 and pH , 1990 .

[30]  Colin S. Reynolds,et al.  Temporal scales of variability in pelagic environments and the response of phytoplankton , 1990 .

[31]  D. G. George,et al.  The relative effects of enrichment and climate change on the long-term dynamics of Daphnia in Esthwaite Water, Cumbria , 1990 .

[32]  David M. Harper,et al.  Eutrophication of Freshwaters , 1991 .

[33]  C. Reynolds.  Eutrophication and the management of planktonic algae: What Vollenweider couldn't tell us , 1992 .

[34]  U. Sommer.  Phytoplankton competition in Plußsee: a field test of the resource-ratio hypothesis , 1993 .

[35]  Urban waterside regeneration : problems and prospects , 1993 .

[36]  C. Reynolds,et al.  Long-term monitoring of the conditions of lakes: the example of the English Lake District , 1993 .

[37]  M. Scheffer,et al.  Alternative equilibria in shallow lakes. , 1993, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[38]  Peter Blomqvist,et al.  AMMONIUM-NITROGEN - A KEY REGULATORY FACTOR CAUSING DOMINANCE OF NON-NITROGEN-FIXING CYANOBACTERIA IN AQUATIC SYSTEMS , 1994 .

[39]  Erik Jeppesen,et al.  Impact of nutrients and physical factors on the shift from cyanobacterial to chlorophyte dominance in shallow Danish lakes , 1994 .

[40]  Franz J. Weissing,et al.  Competition for Nutrients and Light in a Mixed Water Column: A Theoretical Analysis , 1995, The American Naturalist.

[41]  Successional Change in the Planktonic Vegetation: Species, Structures, Scales , 1995 .

[42]  How do cells express nutrient limitation at the molecular level , 1995 .

[43]  G. Phillips,et al.  THE MONITORING OF ECOLOGICAL QUALITY AND THE CLASSIFICATION OF STANDING WATERS IN TEMPERATE REGIONS: A REVIEW AND PROPOSAL BASED ON A WORKED SCHEME FOR BRITISH WATERS , 1996 .

[44]  C. Reynolds.  THE PLANT LIFE OF THE PELAGIC , 1996 .

[45]  A. Levich.  The role of nitrogen-phosphorus ratio in selecting for dominance of phytoplankton by cyanobacteria or green algae and its application to reservoir management , 1996 .

[46]  C. Reynolds,et al.  Patterns of abundance and dominance of the phytoplankton of Rostherne Mere, England: Evidence from an 18-year data set , 1992, Aquatic Sciences.

[47]  D. G. George,et al.  Responses of the phytoplankton to a deliberate attempt to raise the trophic status of an acidic, oligotrophic mountain lake , 1998, Hydrobiologia.

[48]  C. Reynolds.  Experimental manipulations of the phytoplankton periodicity in large limnetic enclosures in Blelham Tarn, English Lake District , 1986, Hydrobiologia.

[49]  Z. Gliwicz,et al.  Why do cladocerans fail to control algal blooms? , 1990, Hydrobiologia.

[50]  C. Reynolds.  The response of phytoplankton communities to changing lake environments , 1987, Swiss journal of hydrology.