Abstract
A weight-of-evidence approach was used to examine how nutrient availability influences stream benthic algal community structure and to validate nutrient-response thresholds in assessing nutrient limitation. Data from 104 southern California streams spanning broad nutrient gradients revealed that relative abundance of N2-fixing heterocystous cyanobacteria (Nostoc, Calothrix), and diatoms (Epithemia, Rhopalodia)-containing cyanobacterial endosymbionts, decreased with increasing ambient inorganic N concentrations within the low end of the N gradient. Response thresholds for these N2 fixers were 0.075 mg l−1 NO3-N, 0.04 mg l−1 NH4-N, and an N:P ratio (by weight) of 15:1. The NO3-N threshold was independently validated by observing nitrogenase gene expression using real-time reverse transcriptase PCR. Morphometric analysis of cyanobacterial endosymbionts in Epithemia and Rhopalodia indicated that endosymbiont biovolume per diatom cell decreased with increasing NO3-N. Our findings indicate that abundance of heterocyst-containing cyanobacteria and endosymbiont-containing diatom cells are good indicators for rapid nutrient biomonitoring. Because heterocystous cyanobacteria and Epithemia/Rhopalodia were not always recorded together at N-limited sites, examining both assemblages jointly may provide a more comprehensive assessment of stream nutrient limitation than using either assemblage alone.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge research funding from the California State Water Resources Control Board Consolidated Grants and SWAMP Programs. We thank the following people for assistance in this project: Bérengére Laslandes, Mariska Brady, Andrew Fields, Evan Thomas, Christina Fuller, Karen McLaughlin, and Martha Sutula. We thank Lilian Busse for advice on the project and Eric Stein and Stephen Weisberg for providing valuable feedback on the manuscript. We would like to thank the associate editor, Dr. Judit Padisák, and two anonymous reviewers for feedback that improved the manuscript.
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Stancheva, R., Sheath, R.G., Read, B.A. et al. Nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria (free-living and diatom endosymbionts): their use in southern California stream bioassessment. Hydrobiologia 720, 111–127 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-013-1630-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-013-1630-6