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Primary Production and Limiting Nutrients in a Small, Subalpine Wyoming Lake
Author(s) -
Wagner John F.,
Parker Michael
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1973)102<698:ppalni>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - nutrient , productivity , flushing , environmental science , primary productivity , montane ecology , limiting , sediment , standing crop , hydrology (agriculture) , ecology , biomass (ecology) , biology , geology , mechanical engineering , paleontology , geotechnical engineering , engineering , economics , macroeconomics , endocrinology
Primary production and limiting nutrients were studied by 14 C techniques in a small, shallow, subalpine lake. There was no relationship between productivity at any depth and light intensity at that depth. Samples taken near the lake bottom always had higher productivity than samples taken near the surface, probably due to more optimal nutrient conditions. Nutrient enrichment experiments support this hypothesis, since sediment extract and ethylenediamine‐tetraacetic acid were always effective in enhancing productivity. The effects of other nutrients and nutrient combinations were less consistent, and tended to change through the summer. A large number of significant three, four and five factor interactions in midsummer indicated that the nutrient requirements of the algal community were most complex at this time. Although retention time increased through the summer from 10 to 71 hours, productivity tended to more closely parallel water temperature. Studies of currents showed that the western end of the lake had relatively little horizontal water movement compared to that of the eastern end, and that the latter portion had retention times even less than average. Significantly lower productivity in the faster flushing portion of the lake suggests that algal populations in this area were unable to accumulate before being flushed downstream. Because of the lakeˈs low average retention time, it would not be practical to artificially increase the primary productivity of the studied, or similar lakes; the rapid flushing would not allow added nutrients or increased algal populations to accumulate in the lake.