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SHIFTS BETWEEN PERIPHYTON-AND PHYTOPLANKTON-BASED FOOD WEBS IN GREAT LAKES COASTAL WETLANDS
Citation:
Sierszen, M E. AND J. Keough. SHIFTS BETWEEN PERIPHYTON-AND PHYTOPLANKTON-BASED FOOD WEBS IN GREAT LAKES COASTAL WETLANDS. Presented at Society of Wetland Scientists Meeting, Quebec City, Canada, August 6-12, 2000.
Description:
Numerous studies have revealed the importance of algae as an energetic base for wetland food webs. Earlier carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses in a Lake Superior coastal wetland (Allouez Bay, WI) indicated that, despite the large amount of vascular plant biobass present, the food web was based upon phytoplankton carbon. Our recent work indicates that not all Lake Superior coastal wetlands are based upon phytoplankton. Analyses of two additional wetland food webs (Lost Creeks and Fish Creek wetlands, WI) suggest that periphyton may provide the base for food webs in relatively undisturbed systems, and that phytoplankton become the primary carbon source for wetland food webs following nutrient enrichment. All three wetlands analyzed had comparable dissolved nitrogen concentrations. However, soluable reactive phosphorus concentrations in Allouez Bay were approximately five times higher than in Lost Creeks and Fish Creek wetlands. Stable isotope food web analyses may provide a new system-level indicator of wetland response to anthropogenic disturbance.