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Watershed and Lake Influences on the Energetic Base of Coastal Wetland Food Webs across the Great Lakes Basin
Citation:
SIERSZEN, M. E., J. C. BRAZNER, A. M. COTTER, J. A. MORRICE, G. S. PETERSON, AND A. S. TREBITZ. Watershed and Lake Influences on the Energetic Base of Coastal Wetland Food Webs across the Great Lakes Basin. JOURNAL OF GREAT LAKES RESEARCH. International Association for Great Lakes Research, Ann Arbor, MI, 38(3):418-428, (2012).
Impact/Purpose:
This manuscript examines the responses of Great Lakes coastal wetland food webs to nutrient enrichment and identifies three classes of systems whose food webs respond differently. Or is that differentially? Anyway, coastal wetlands with relatively long hydraulic residence times develop plankton communities, and in those systems planktonic carbon becomes more important to higher consumers with nutrient enrichment. Riverine wetlands (with short residence times) don’t have much plankton; their response to nutrients is a decreased importance of detrital carbon. A third class of wetlands obtains energetic subsidies from the adjacent Great Lake. In those systems, food web responses to nutrient enrichment aren’t detectable. These food web responses may serve as early warnings of eutrophication effects.
Description:
This manuscript examines the responses of Great Lakes coastal wetland food webs to nutrient enrichment and identifies three classes of systems whose food webs respond differently. Or is that differentially? Anyway, coastal wetlands with relatively long hydraulic residence times develop plankton communities, and in those systems planktonic carbon becomes more important to higher consumers with nutrient enrichment. Riverine wetlands (with short residence times) don’t have much plankton; their response to nutrients is a decreased importance of detrital carbon. A third class of wetlands obtains energetic subsidies from the adjacent Great Lake. In those systems, food web responses to nutrient enrichment aren’t detectable. These food web responses may serve as early warnings of eutrophication effects.