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Floating meadow epiphyton: biological and chemical features of epiphytic material in an Amazon floodplain lake
Author(s) -
ENGLE DIANA L.,
MELACK JOHN M.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
freshwater biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.297
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2427
pISSN - 0046-5070
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2427.1989.tb01120.x
Subject(s) - epiphyte , macrophyte , environmental science , algae , aquatic plant , chlorophyll a , diatom , biomass (ecology) , floodplain , nutrient , botany , biology , ecology
SUMMARY. 1. Quantities and the chemical composition of epiphyton on the roots of floating aquatic macrophytes were measured in Lake Calado, an Amazon floodplain lake. Growth of epiphytic algae following physical disturbance and losses of epiphyton due to grazing and storms were investigated. 2. Deposition of silt from invading river water decreased chlorophyll and nutrient content (%C, %N, %P) of epiphyton during rising water. N:P ratios of epiphyton indicated that proximity to the river increased supplies of phosphorus. Attached algal biomass per unit root tissue was higher overall during the falling water period, when light was greater, storms less frequent, and new host plant tissue produced more slowly. 3. Epiphytic algal biomass at the margins of floating meadows exceeded that of the phytoplankton in the open water on a per unit area basis. Increases in attached algal chlorophyll ranged from two‐ to ten‐fold over 1 week. Artificial denudation of roots was followed by rapid regrowth of attached algae, leading, after I week, to four‐fold increases in chlorophyll over the pre‐denuded state. 4. Wind‐blown macrophytes experienced an episodic loss of 70% of epiphytic material in less than 1 h. Particulate material lost from roots grazed by snails included root tissue and contained significantly more carbon than material lost from ungrazed roots.