Organic matter sources and flows in tundra wetland food webs
Arctic lowland tundra is often dominated by wetlands. As numbers and types of these wetlands change with climate warming, their invertebrate biomass and assemblages may also be affected. Increased influx of nutrients and dissolved organic matter (DOM) from thawing peat may alter the relative availab...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286368 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286368 |
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crplos:10.1371/journal.pone.0286368 2024-05-19T07:36:42+00:00 Organic matter sources and flows in tundra wetland food webs Plesh, Steven P. Lovvorn, James R. Miller, Micah W. C. Masese, Frank O. National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286368 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286368 en eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ PLOS ONE volume 18, issue 5, page e0286368 ISSN 1932-6203 journal-article 2023 crplos https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286368 2024-05-01T07:04:07Z Arctic lowland tundra is often dominated by wetlands. As numbers and types of these wetlands change with climate warming, their invertebrate biomass and assemblages may also be affected. Increased influx of nutrients and dissolved organic matter (DOM) from thawing peat may alter the relative availability of organic matter (OM) sources, differentially affecting taxa with disparate dependence on those sources. In five shallow wetland types (<40 to 110 cm deep) and in littoral zones of deeper lakes (>150 cm), we used stable isotopes (δ 13 C, δ 15 N) to compare contributions of four OM sources (periphytic microalgae, cyanobacteria, macrophytes, peat) to the diets of nine macroinvertebrate taxa. Living macrophytes were not distinguishable isotopically from peat that likely contributed most DOM. Within invertebrate taxa, relative OM contributions were similar among all wetland types except deeper lakes. Physidae snails consumed substantial amounts of OM from cyanobacteria. However, for all other taxa examined, microalgae were the dominant or a major OM source (39–82%, mean 59%) in all wetland types except deeper lakes (20‒62%, mean 31%). Macrophytes and macrophyte-derived peat, likely consumed mostly indirectly as DOM-supported bacteria, ranged from 18‒61% (mean 41%) of ultimate OM sources in all wetland types except deeper lakes (38–80%, mean 69%). Invertebrate consumption of microalgal C may often have involved bacterial intermediates, or a mix of algae with bacteria consuming peat-derived OM. High production of periphyton with very low δ 13 C values were favored by continuous daylight illuminating shallow depths, high N and P levels, and high CO 2 concentrations from bacterial respiration of peat-derived DOM. Although relative OM sources were similar across wetland types except deeper lakes, total invertebrate biomass was much higher in shallow wetlands with emergent vegetation. Impacts of warming on the availability of invertebrate prey to waterbirds will likely depend not on shifts in OM sources, but more ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Tundra PLOS PLOS ONE 18 5 e0286368 |
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PLOS |
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crplos |
language |
English |
description |
Arctic lowland tundra is often dominated by wetlands. As numbers and types of these wetlands change with climate warming, their invertebrate biomass and assemblages may also be affected. Increased influx of nutrients and dissolved organic matter (DOM) from thawing peat may alter the relative availability of organic matter (OM) sources, differentially affecting taxa with disparate dependence on those sources. In five shallow wetland types (<40 to 110 cm deep) and in littoral zones of deeper lakes (>150 cm), we used stable isotopes (δ 13 C, δ 15 N) to compare contributions of four OM sources (periphytic microalgae, cyanobacteria, macrophytes, peat) to the diets of nine macroinvertebrate taxa. Living macrophytes were not distinguishable isotopically from peat that likely contributed most DOM. Within invertebrate taxa, relative OM contributions were similar among all wetland types except deeper lakes. Physidae snails consumed substantial amounts of OM from cyanobacteria. However, for all other taxa examined, microalgae were the dominant or a major OM source (39–82%, mean 59%) in all wetland types except deeper lakes (20‒62%, mean 31%). Macrophytes and macrophyte-derived peat, likely consumed mostly indirectly as DOM-supported bacteria, ranged from 18‒61% (mean 41%) of ultimate OM sources in all wetland types except deeper lakes (38–80%, mean 69%). Invertebrate consumption of microalgal C may often have involved bacterial intermediates, or a mix of algae with bacteria consuming peat-derived OM. High production of periphyton with very low δ 13 C values were favored by continuous daylight illuminating shallow depths, high N and P levels, and high CO 2 concentrations from bacterial respiration of peat-derived DOM. Although relative OM sources were similar across wetland types except deeper lakes, total invertebrate biomass was much higher in shallow wetlands with emergent vegetation. Impacts of warming on the availability of invertebrate prey to waterbirds will likely depend not on shifts in OM sources, but more ... |
author2 |
Masese, Frank O. National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Plesh, Steven P. Lovvorn, James R. Miller, Micah W. C. |
spellingShingle |
Plesh, Steven P. Lovvorn, James R. Miller, Micah W. C. Organic matter sources and flows in tundra wetland food webs |
author_facet |
Plesh, Steven P. Lovvorn, James R. Miller, Micah W. C. |
author_sort |
Plesh, Steven P. |
title |
Organic matter sources and flows in tundra wetland food webs |
title_short |
Organic matter sources and flows in tundra wetland food webs |
title_full |
Organic matter sources and flows in tundra wetland food webs |
title_fullStr |
Organic matter sources and flows in tundra wetland food webs |
title_full_unstemmed |
Organic matter sources and flows in tundra wetland food webs |
title_sort |
organic matter sources and flows in tundra wetland food webs |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286368 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286368 |
genre |
Arctic Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Tundra |
op_source |
PLOS ONE volume 18, issue 5, page e0286368 ISSN 1932-6203 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286368 |
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PLOS ONE |
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18 |
container_issue |
5 |
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e0286368 |
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