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Studies on the Regulatory Behaviour of Aquatic Ecosystems and its Significance for the Biological Phosphate Removal
Author(s) -
Benndorf Jürgen,
Stelzer Wolfgang
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
internationale revue der gesamten hydrobiologie und hydrographie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1522-2632
pISSN - 0020-9309
DOI - 10.1002/iroh.19730580502
Subject(s) - biomass (ecology) , dilution , ecosystem , aquatic ecosystem , substrate (aquarium) , phosphate , environmental science , environmental chemistry , chemistry , ecology , biology , biochemistry , physics , thermodynamics
Aquatic ecosystems have the ability to compensate for oscillations of the inputs (substrate concentration, dilution rate, temperature). The mechanisms of this buffering capacity are studied in this paper (see fig. 7). The inputs exert an influence on the biomass and the activity of the organisms (activity = specific rate of RNA‐synthesis or specific P‐removal rate [μ/mg biomass day]). The activity is regulated either directly by the inputs and/or indirectly by the biomass. The activity decreases with an increase of the biomass (see fig. 5 and 6). The product of biomass and activity determines the transient response (= effective performance) of the system which is better buffered than biomass or activity alone. Considering the theory developed in this paper the effect of shock loadings on the phosphate removal in preimpoundment basins of drinking water reservoirs is discussed.