Per Hyenstrand

Cultural Oligotrophication: Causes and Consequences for Fisheries Resources

Abstract Research on the impacts and processes of eutrophication has dominated limnological research for several decades, and it is only recently that implications of nutrient removal and declining ecosystem production (oligotrophication) on fisheries and food chains have been reported. To many persons, oligotrophication is synonymous with “clean”water and aesthetic improvements, but to others, it often implies an unproductive and declining fisheries resource. In this article we use a phosphorus (P) mass-balance approach to provide a historic perspective for the ongoing oligotrophication of highland terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and the concurrent eutrophication of lowland, coastal ecosystems. Because mined sources of P for fertilizer production are declining and costs are likely to increase substantially within the next century, we opine that it is time to reconsider the ways we manage our nutrient resources. We should recommence all means of recycling P, and consider ways to reintroduce recycled nu...

Competition between the green alga Scenedesmus and the cyanobacterium Synechococcus under different modes of inorganic nitrogen supply

In this study, we evaluated growth responses of the green alga Scenedesmus and the cyanobacterium Synechococcus supplied with inorganic nitrogen in different ways. A competitive situation in which nitrogen was limiting was created in mixed cultures as well as in cultures growing in the same vessel but separated by a permeable dialysis membrane. Supplying inorganic nitrogen in small pulses at a high frequency favoured the cyanobacterium Synechococcus, whereas batch additions favoured the green alga Scenedesmus. When using a large-pulse/low-frequency supply mode, the yield of the green alga was higher when ammonium was added as nitrogen source compared to when nitrate was added. By contrast, the yield of the cyanobacterium was higher in the nitrate regime. However, uptake experiments using unialgal cultures showed that both organisms depleted the medium of ammonium more rapidly than they depleted the medium of nitrate; i.e. the higher yield of the cyanobacterium in the nitrate regime than in the ammonium regime can be attributed to the effects of competition with the green alga. Since nitrate assimilation involves the consumption of reductive power, we suggest that the outcome of competition was governed by the fact that green alga was light limited and therefore better able to compete for ammonium than for nitrate. The results from the laboratory studies are discussed in relation to results from an enclosure experiment performed in Lake Erken, Sweden. In that field experiment, in which additions of both phosphate and ammonium were applied every second day to 350-l enclosures, the green algal biomass increased exponentially during an incubation period of 22 days.

NITROGEN LIMITATION EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT NITROGEN SOURCES ON NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF TWO FRESHWATER ORGANISMS, SCENEDESMUS QUADRICAUDA (CHLOROPHYCEAE) AND SYNECHOCOCCUS SP. (CYANOPHYCEAE)

Food quality for grazers has been related to mineral (nitrogen, phosphorus) and biochemical (amino acids, fatty acids) constituents. The aim of the study was to examine the influence of different nitrogen sources on these constituents in two organisms, the green alga Scenedesmus quadricauda Turp. and the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp., commonly used in feeding experiments. The two organisms were grown in continuous cultures at different growth rates. Nitrate or ammonium salts were used as nitrogen sources under both replete and limited conditions. Carbon content (mg·g−1 dry weight) was stable in both organisms independent of nitrogen source, nitrogen limitation, and growth rate. Nitrogen content decreased with limitation and growth rate in Scenedesmus and to a lesser degree in Synechococcus, whereas changes in phosphorus content were not statistically significant. The relative proportions of amino acids (% of total amino acids) were relatively stable in both organisms, whereas the proportions of fatty acids varied with growth rate and limitation. Fatty acid content was much lower in Synechococcus than in Scenedesmus. At N limitation, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) showed lower levels in both organisms. The change occurred in the ω3 PUFA (linolenic acid) of the green alga and in the ω6 PUFA (linoleic acid) of the cyanobacterium. The difference in the response of N limitation in the two organisms may be traced to the different composition of the chloroplast membranes (the prokaryotic way) and the microsomal membranes (the eukaryotic way) where the desaturation takes place.

RECRUITMENT AND PELAGIC GROWTH OF GLOEOTRICHIA ECHINULATA (CYANOPHYCEAE) IN LAKE ERKEN1

Different parameters in the life cycle of the colony forming cyanobacterium Gloeotrichia echinulata (J.E. Smith) Richter was evaluated in Lake Erken, Sweden. Recruitment of colonies from the sediments and pelagic abundance were measured during 2 years. These data were then used in a model to evaluate and estimate parameters of the life cycle. In our study, recruitment alone only contributed to a small part (<5%) of the maximum G. echinulata abundance that occurred during late summer. However, recruitment from shallow sediments forms the important seed for the pelagic population. Together with measured rates of migration from the sediment, variations in either pelagic colony division rate or pelagic residence time could explain variations in the measured abundance of G. echinulata in situ.

Nutritional quality of Scenedesmus quadricauda (Chlorophyceae) grown in different nitrogen regimes and tested on Daphnia

Nutritional quality of Scenedesmus quadricauda (Chlorophyceae) grown in different nitrogen regimes and tested on Daphnia