AN EVALUATION OF PERIPHYTON COMMUNITY STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION ON TILE AND COBBLE SUBSTRATA IN EXPERIMENTAL STREAM MESOCOSMS

Citation
Rl. Lowe et al., AN EVALUATION OF PERIPHYTON COMMUNITY STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION ON TILE AND COBBLE SUBSTRATA IN EXPERIMENTAL STREAM MESOCOSMS, Hydrobiologia, 328(2), 1996, pp. 135-146
Citations number
33
Categorie Soggetti
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Journal title
ISSN journal
00188158
Volume
328
Issue
2
Year of publication
1996
Pages
135 - 146
Database
ISI
SICI code
0018-8158(1996)328:2<135:AEOPCS>2.0.ZU;2-N
Abstract
Periphyton communities are an ecologically important source of informa tion when conducting experimental stream ecotoxicological studies. Exp erimental stream studies often utilize unreplicated systems in order t o understand dose-response phenomena. The objective of this study was to examine the robustness of such a dose-response investigation. Autot rophic and heterotrophic periphyton were evaluated in replicated contr ol experimental streams with open recruitment (once-through flow desig n). Measurements of population and community structure and community f unction over an eleven week colonization period were made on unglazed clay tile and cobble substrata. Several measures were significantly di fferent during the study; however, most of these were a result of init ial stochastic colonization events or associated with relatively rare algal populations. During the latter half of the study autotrophic and heterotrophic community measurements on tile and cobble substrata dis played similar trends in both control streams. Population and communit y metrics were significantly different for approximately 5% of the 400 measurements made after the initial sampling. These results strongly suggest that the driving forces behind structuring aquatic population and community responses will be test chemical exposure and not spuriou sly developed stream ecosystems with individual trajectories. Recruitm ent in these open systems is evenly distributed across the replicated experimental stream ecosystems.