Experimental tests of water chemistry response to ornithological eutrophication: biological implications in Arctic freshwaters
Many populations of Arctic-breeding geese have increased in abundance in recent decades, and in the Canadian Arctic, snow geese ( Chen caerulescens ) and Ross's geese ( Chen rossii ) are formally considered overabundant by wildlife managers. The impacts of these overabundant geese on terrestria...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:86c2c0b30b7d4817963c2a09fd51c0ea 2023-05-15T14:48:08+02:00 Experimental tests of water chemistry response to ornithological eutrophication: biological implications in Arctic freshwaters H. L. Mariash M. Rautio M. Mallory P. A. Smith 2019-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-4719-2019 https://doaj.org/article/86c2c0b30b7d4817963c2a09fd51c0ea EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.biogeosciences.net/16/4719/2019/bg-16-4719-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4170 https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4189 doi:10.5194/bg-16-4719-2019 1726-4170 1726-4189 https://doaj.org/article/86c2c0b30b7d4817963c2a09fd51c0ea Biogeosciences, Vol 16, Pp 4719-4730 (2019) Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-4719-2019 2022-12-30T20:49:36Z Many populations of Arctic-breeding geese have increased in abundance in recent decades, and in the Canadian Arctic, snow geese ( Chen caerulescens ) and Ross's geese ( Chen rossii ) are formally considered overabundant by wildlife managers. The impacts of these overabundant geese on terrestrial habitats are well documented, and, more recently, studies have suggested impacts on freshwater ecosystems as well. The direct contribution of nutrients from goose faeces to water chemistry could have cascading effects on biological functioning, through changes in phytoplankton biovolumes and community composition. We demonstrated previously that goose faeces can enrich ponds with nutrients at a landscape scale. Here, we show experimentally that goose droppings rapidly released nitrogen and phosphorus when submerged in freshwater, increasing the dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus in the water. This resulted in both a decrease in the nitrogen:phosphorus ratio and an increase in cyanobacteria in the goose dropping treatment. In contrast, this pattern was not found when we submerged cut sedge ( Carex sp.) leaves. These results demonstrate that geese act as bio-vectors, causing terrestrial nutrients to be bioavailable in freshwater systems. Collectively, the results demonstrate the direct ecological consequences of ornithological nutrient loading from hyper-abundant geese in Arctic freshwater ecosystems. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Phytoplankton Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Biogeosciences 16 23 4719 4730 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 H. L. Mariash M. Rautio M. Mallory P. A. Smith Experimental tests of water chemistry response to ornithological eutrophication: biological implications in Arctic freshwaters |
topic_facet |
Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
Many populations of Arctic-breeding geese have increased in abundance in recent decades, and in the Canadian Arctic, snow geese ( Chen caerulescens ) and Ross's geese ( Chen rossii ) are formally considered overabundant by wildlife managers. The impacts of these overabundant geese on terrestrial habitats are well documented, and, more recently, studies have suggested impacts on freshwater ecosystems as well. The direct contribution of nutrients from goose faeces to water chemistry could have cascading effects on biological functioning, through changes in phytoplankton biovolumes and community composition. We demonstrated previously that goose faeces can enrich ponds with nutrients at a landscape scale. Here, we show experimentally that goose droppings rapidly released nitrogen and phosphorus when submerged in freshwater, increasing the dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus in the water. This resulted in both a decrease in the nitrogen:phosphorus ratio and an increase in cyanobacteria in the goose dropping treatment. In contrast, this pattern was not found when we submerged cut sedge ( Carex sp.) leaves. These results demonstrate that geese act as bio-vectors, causing terrestrial nutrients to be bioavailable in freshwater systems. Collectively, the results demonstrate the direct ecological consequences of ornithological nutrient loading from hyper-abundant geese in Arctic freshwater ecosystems. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
H. L. Mariash M. Rautio M. Mallory P. A. Smith |
author_facet |
H. L. Mariash M. Rautio M. Mallory P. A. Smith |
author_sort |
H. L. Mariash |
title |
Experimental tests of water chemistry response to ornithological eutrophication: biological implications in Arctic freshwaters |
title_short |
Experimental tests of water chemistry response to ornithological eutrophication: biological implications in Arctic freshwaters |
title_full |
Experimental tests of water chemistry response to ornithological eutrophication: biological implications in Arctic freshwaters |
title_fullStr |
Experimental tests of water chemistry response to ornithological eutrophication: biological implications in Arctic freshwaters |
title_full_unstemmed |
Experimental tests of water chemistry response to ornithological eutrophication: biological implications in Arctic freshwaters |
title_sort |
experimental tests of water chemistry response to ornithological eutrophication: biological implications in arctic freshwaters |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-4719-2019 https://doaj.org/article/86c2c0b30b7d4817963c2a09fd51c0ea |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Phytoplankton |
genre_facet |
Arctic Phytoplankton |
op_source |
Biogeosciences, Vol 16, Pp 4719-4730 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://www.biogeosciences.net/16/4719/2019/bg-16-4719-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4170 https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4189 doi:10.5194/bg-16-4719-2019 1726-4170 1726-4189 https://doaj.org/article/86c2c0b30b7d4817963c2a09fd51c0ea |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-4719-2019 |
container_title |
Biogeosciences |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
23 |
container_start_page |
4719 |
op_container_end_page |
4730 |
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1766319216668966912 |