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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 59(8)

Nitrate uptake rates in freshwater plankton: the effect of food web structure

Carmen Rojo A C , María A. Rodrigo A , Guillem Salazar A and Miguel Álvarez-Cobelas B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Integrative Ecology Group, Institute Cavanilles of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, Ap. Of. 2085, E-46071 Valencia, Spain.

B Institute of Natural Resources, CSIC, Madrid, Serrano 115 dpdo., E-28006-Madrid, Spain.

C Corresponding author. Email: carmen.rojo@uv.es

Marine and Freshwater Research 59(8) 717-725 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF08023
Submitted: 1 February 2008  Accepted: 5 June 2008   Published: 22 August 2008

Abstract

Nitrate incorporation rates by primary producers and the transfer of nitrogen to upper planktonic food web levels in different seasons (spring and summer of different years) were studied using a microcosm experimental approach. The study communities were natural plankton communities from Colgada Lake (central Spain), which is heavily polluted by nitrate. Natural δ15N in phytoplankton and zooplankton was measured and experiments were performed on the 15N supply. Naturally derived δ15N varied from 7.4 to 8.6‰ and from 10.0 to 16.8‰ in phytoplankton and zooplankton respectively. Nitrogen incorporation rates ranged from 0.006 to 0.036 μM h–1 and from 0.0004 to 0.0014 μM h–1 in phytoplankton and zooplankton respectively. The differences in natural δ15N levels and nitrogen incorporation rates between plankton fractions from seasonally different communities reported in the present study suggested that the nitrogen uptake by planktonic communities in Colgada Lake depend on different combinations of dominant zooplankters and phytoplankton size structure. A higher level of nitrogen uptake by phytoplankton occurred when small algae were dominant without competitors (larger algae) or main predators (herbivorous zooplankters). This was because copepods, with the lowest zooplankton nitrogen uptake, were dominant. Phytoplankton nitrogen uptake was lower when big algae were dominant.

Additional keywords: cell size, cladocerans, copepods, freshwater plankton,15N tracer method, nitrogen isotopes, rotifers, Ruidera Lakes National Park.


Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge Pilar Teixidor (University of Barcelona, Spain) for isotopic analyses and José Larrosa, Javier Armengol (University of Valencia, Spain) and Ernesto Manga (Universidad of Puebla, México) for helping us during the setup of the experiments. The authors wish to thank the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science for the funding of the research projects REN-2002-558 and CGL2006-2346. We also acknowledge American Journal Experts for English language correction.


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