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TRANSLOCATION OF NUTRIENTS BY FRESHWATER MUSSELS – ALTERATION OF ECOSYSTEM AND COMMUNITY PROCESSES
Citation:
Atkinson, C., C. Vaughn, AND Ken Forshay. TRANSLOCATION OF NUTRIENTS BY FRESHWATER MUSSELS – ALTERATION OF ECOSYSTEM AND COMMUNITY PROCESSES. Presented at 2012 Society for Freshwater Science Annual Meeting - Freshwater Stewardship: Challenges and Solutions, May 20 - 24, 2012.
Impact/Purpose:
Determine the influence of biogeomorphic structures in streams and rivers on nutrients to help manage aquatic ecosystems. Evaluation of a natural structure on nitrogen. Work arising from an MOU with the University of Oklahoma: PW OK 92320301-0
Description:
Nutrient demand and availability is a major driver of ecosystem processes. We examined the impact of freshwater mussels, a highly imperiled faunal group, on nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) cycling and storage in three Oklahoma streams. We found that filter-feeding by freshwater mussels translocates nutrients and materials from the water column, specifically making N more available to the benthos. Mussel aggregations altered the nutrient that limit algal growth and community composition at the local scale; sites without mussels were typically N-limited with higher abundances of blue-green algae, while sites with high mussel densities were co-limited and dominated by diatoms. Furthermore, due to their long lives (5-100 years), mussels constitute long-term nutrient storage in stream ecosystems. At a large spatial scale, freshwater mussels subsidized the benthic compartment of streams through a dramatic increase in the rate of N remineralization via mussel excretion and greater N and P storage. Nutrient dynamics in these rivers are driven by translocation of nutrients by mussels. Our study highlights the importance of this highly imperiled faunal group on nutrient cycling and storage in aquatic ecosystems.