TY - JOUR
T1 - Zooplankton contribution to particulate phosphorus and nitrogen in lakes
AU - Hessen, Dag
AU - Andersen, Tom
AU - Faafeng, Bjørn
PY - 1992
Y1 - 1992
N2 - Based on the recognition of rather constant species-specific element to dry weight ratios in freshwater zooplankton, pools of metazoan zooplankton P and N were calculated for 45 Norwegian lakes of varying trophy. On the average zooplankton constituted 20.4±12.3% and 4.6±4.3% of particulate P and N respectively. The fraction was considerably higher in many oligotrophic lakes, at most >50 and 20% respectively, but declined to ∼15% (P) and ∼5% (N) in meso- to eutrophic lakes. In general, phytoplankton contribution to particulate P was <50%, leaving a large share of particulate P to bacteria and microzooplankton. The zooplankton proportion of particulate P was only weakly influenced by the predation pressure in terms of fish community structure. Zooplankton P is important in the overall lake metabolism, and knowledge of this pool may be used to estimate zooplankton-mediated loss and regeneration of P and improve total nutrient element budgets in lakes.
AB - Based on the recognition of rather constant species-specific element to dry weight ratios in freshwater zooplankton, pools of metazoan zooplankton P and N were calculated for 45 Norwegian lakes of varying trophy. On the average zooplankton constituted 20.4±12.3% and 4.6±4.3% of particulate P and N respectively. The fraction was considerably higher in many oligotrophic lakes, at most >50 and 20% respectively, but declined to ∼15% (P) and ∼5% (N) in meso- to eutrophic lakes. In general, phytoplankton contribution to particulate P was <50%, leaving a large share of particulate P to bacteria and microzooplankton. The zooplankton proportion of particulate P was only weakly influenced by the predation pressure in terms of fish community structure. Zooplankton P is important in the overall lake metabolism, and knowledge of this pool may be used to estimate zooplankton-mediated loss and regeneration of P and improve total nutrient element budgets in lakes.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0027072940&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/plankt/14.7.937
DO - 10.1093/plankt/14.7.937
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0027072940
VL - 14
SP - 937
EP - 947
JO - Journal of Plankton Research
JF - Journal of Plankton Research
SN - 0142-7873
IS - 7
ER -