OPTICAL INDICATORS OF PHYTOPLANKTON COMMUNITY STRUCTURE/ FUNCTION NUTRIENT LIMITATION EXPERIMENTS
Both nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) can limit the growth of aquatic flora, but how the relative proportion of these elements affect their ecophysiology remains understudied. Eutrophic lakes that are P rich and N poor should select for phytoplankton that fix atmospheric N and have predictable pigment and toxin production rates. In this study, we conducted a nutrient enrichment bioassay on phytoplankton sampled from a long-term mesocosm eutrophication experiment at the University of Mississippi Field Station in which N dosing was recently halted. We conducted a microcosm experiment in which we fertilized subsamples of water from the mesocosms with +N, +P, or +N+P. A total of 144 experimental bottles (3 replicate control and 3 replicates per treatment across 12 mesocosms) were incubated for five days in late July and sampled for particulate phosphorus (PP), chlorophyll-A (Chl-A), and Carbon-Nitrogen (CN), as well as, various optical properties including Effective Quantum Yield (EQY), Electron Transport Rate (ETR), and Maximum Quantum Field Yield (MQFY). The response of these optical properties relative to phytoplankton biomass and stoichiometry may give us insight on how phytoplankton community structure/function changes with limiting nutrients.
Primary Presenter: Jaylen Powell, Baylor University (jaylen_powell1@baylor.edu)
Authors:
Jaylen Powell, Baylor University (jaylen_powell1@baylor.edu)
Jason Taylor, USDA-ARS (jason.taylor@usda.gov)
Andrew Rosson, University of Mississippi (acrosson@go.olemiss.edu)
Victoria Simek-Blocker, USDA-ARS (victoria.simek@usda.gov)
Thad Scott, Baylor University (thad_scott@baylor.edu)
OPTICAL INDICATORS OF PHYTOPLANKTON COMMUNITY STRUCTURE/ FUNCTION NUTRIENT LIMITATION EXPERIMENTS
Category
Scientific Sessions > SS14 - Exploring Nitrogen Fixation Along the Freshwater-Marine Continuum; A Joint ASLO-SFS Endeavor
Description
Time: 05:30 PM
Date: 4/6/2024
Room: Madison Ballroom D
Poster Number: 106