The influence of different environmental conditions upon the initial development and ecological dynamics of phytobenthic communities

Law, Rosemary J.; Elliott, J. Alex; Jones, Ian D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3541-5903; Page, Trevor. 2014 The influence of different environmental conditions upon the initial development and ecological dynamics of phytobenthic communities. Fundamental and Applied Limnology, 185 (2). 139-153. https://doi.org/10.1127/fal/2014/0508

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Abstract/Summary

The combined influences of three environmental factors (nutrients, current velocity and grazers) upon the early establishment of stream phytobenthic communities (initial 5 weeks) were investigated in North West England. Nutrients were found to be more influential upon communities than current velocity or grazing. In eutrophic conditions, growth rates and diversity were greater and community dynamics appeared to be ultimately controlled by the biotic process of inter-specific competition. In oligotrophic conditions, although there was a large colonization pool, the communities were dominated by two species. These species were most likely selected for their ability to efficiently assimilate nutrients which supported the concepts postulated by the harsh-benign hypothesis. Furthermore, the oligotrophic communities produced a higher total biovolume than the more diverse eutrophic communities. The increased amount of species turnover in the eutrophic, compared to the oligotrophic systems, may represent community stability, suggesting support for the diversity-stability concept

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1127/fal/2014/0508
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Parr
ISSN:	1863-9135
Additional Keywords:	biodiversity, stability, harsh-benign, lotic, algae, diatoms, nutrients, current velocity, grazers
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment
Date made live:	27 Feb 2015 10:59 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/509907

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