Search results for "BENTHIC PATHWAYS"
showing 2 items of 2 documents
Nutritional quality of littoral macroinvertebrates and pelagic zooplankton in subarctic lakes
2021
Littoral benthic primary production is considered the most important energy source of consumers in subarctic lakes. We analyzed essential fatty acid (EFA) and amino acid (EAA) content of 23 littoral benthic macroinvertebrate taxa as well as cladocerans and copepods from pelagic and littoral habitats of 8–9 subarctic lakes to compare their nutritional quality. Pelagic crustacean zooplankton had significantly higher EFA and total FA content (on average 2.6‐fold and 1.6‐fold, respectively) than littoral macroinvertebrates in all our study lakes. Specifically, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), one of the most important EFA for juvenile fish, was almost exclusively found in pelagic copepods. In littor…
Periphyton support for littoral secondary production in a highly humic boreal lake
2016
Steep stratification and poor light penetration in highly humic lakes typically restrict oxygenated littoral areas to narrow lake margins. However, in some instances, surrounding floating vegetation mats can sustain highly productive periphyton and more diverse invertebrate communities than pelagic areas. Little is known about how these littoral food webs function or the extent to which the pelagic and littoral food webs are coupled. We added 15N-labeled ammonium nitrate to the floating moss mat surrounding the littoral zone of Mekkojärvi, a small highly humic and fishless lake in southern Finland. Our goal was to increase the δ15N values of periphyton to investigate the diets of littoral i…