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Animal-Driven Nutrient Supply Declines Relative to Ecosystem Nutrient Demand Along a Pond Hydroperiod Gradient

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Abstract

In many lentic ecosystems, hydroperiod, or the duration of inundation, controls animal community composition and biomass. Although hydroperiod-imposed differences in wetland animal communities could cause differences in animal-driven nutrient supply, hydroperiod has not been considered as a template for investigating patterns of animal-driven nutrient cycling. Here, we use nutrient excretion rates (NH4-N and SRP) and biomasses of pelagic and benthic invertebrates and salamanders and nutrient uptake rates in a simulation model to estimate animal-driven nutrient supply and pond-level demand along a hydroperiod gradient of 12 subalpine ponds in the U.S. Rocky Mountains that are vulnerable to climate change. We found that animal biomass increased with hydroperiod duration and biomass predicted animal-driven supply contributions among hydroperiod classifications (temporary-permanent). Consequently, community-wide supply was greatest in permanent ponds. Animal-driven N supply exceeded demand in permanent and semi-permanent ponds, whereas P supply equaled demand in both. Conversely, temporary ponds had large deficits in N and P supply due to lower community biomass and hydroperiod-induced constraints on dominant suppliers (oligochaetes and chironomids). The distribution of taxon-specific supply also differed among hydroperiods, with supply dominated by a few taxa in permanent ponds and supply more evenly distributed among temporary pond taxa. The absence or lower biomass of dominant suppliers in temporary ponds creates nutrient deficits and possible limitation of productivity. Thus, as climate warming causes hydroperiods to become increasingly temporary and indirectly prompts biomass declines and compositional shifts, animal-driven nutrient supply will decrease and strong nutrient limitation may arise due to loss of animal-driven supply.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory for logistic support and The Nature Conservancy for access to the Mexican Cut Nature Preserve. We thank Austyn Long for assistance sampling sedge and Kevin Gross for helpful discussions on the simulation. Comments from Chelsea Little, Bobbi Peckarsky and four anonymous reviewers greatly improved the manuscript. Balik was supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, a Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center Global Change Fellowship, a Colorado Mountain Club Foundation Al Ossinger Fellowship and a RMBL Graduate Fellowship from the Snyder Endowment. Wissinger was funded by NSF DEB 1557015. Whiteman was funded by NSF DEB 1354787. Jameson was funded by NSF REU supplement 1819108 to Taylor. Additional funding was provided by NSF DEB 1556914, REU supplement 1721812 and North Carolina State University.

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Correspondence to Jared A. Balik.

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Author contributions JAB, BWT, and SAW conceived the study. All authors contributed to data collection. EEJ and JAB processed all water chemistry samples. JAB analyzed data, developed pond simulation model, and wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed critically to the drafts and gave final approval for publication.

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Balik, J.A., Jameson, E.E., Wissinger, S.A. et al. Animal-Driven Nutrient Supply Declines Relative to Ecosystem Nutrient Demand Along a Pond Hydroperiod Gradient. Ecosystems 25, 678–696 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-021-00679-9

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