Oral Presentation Society for Freshwater Science 2025 Annual Meeting

Warming interacts with substrate to influence nutrient removal in experimental mesocosms (118608)

Abagael N Pruitt 1 , Jennifer L Tank 1 , Caroline Anscombe 2 , Mitchell J Liddick 1 , Elise D Snyder 3 , Emma M Thrift-Cahall 1 , Erik M Curtis 4 , Anna ES Vincent 5
  1. University of Notre Dame, IN, United States
  2. University of Arkansas, Fayettteville, AR, United States
  3. Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, IL, United States
  4. University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  5. Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States

Climate change is predicted to increase stream temperatures in the Midwest up to 6°C by 2100, which may alter stream ecosystem function. To explore these impacts, we used replicated recirculating mesocosms (n=24) to examine the effects of warming on biofilm colonization, metabolism, and nutrient removal of ammonium (NH4+-N) and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP). We established three temperature treatments (20℃, 23℃, and 26℃) and compared epilithic biofilms colonizing cobble substrates to heterotrophic biofilms colonizing sugar maple leaves (Acer saccharum). We measured chlorophyll-a (chla) on cobble, community respiration (CR) on leaves, and nutrient removal rates (k, hr-1) of NH4+-N and SRP weekly for 21 days. We found that warming did not change epilithon chla, nor leaf CR (Generalized linear mixed model; p>0.05). For nutrients, warming increased NH4+-N removal for both leaves and cobble; k for cobble at 20°C was 2.3 hr-1 (Bayesian univariate multilevel model; 75% Credible Interval=1.9, 2.7), and 3.5 hr-1 at 26°C (3.1, 4.0), while k for leaves at 20°C was 0.5 hr-1 (0.4, 0.6), and at 26°C was 1.1 hr-1 (1.0, 1.2). In contrast, warming only altered SRP removal for cobble; k at 20°C was 1.1 hr-1 (0.8, 1.3), and at 26°C was 1.9 hr-1 (1.7, 2.2), but not for leaves (k at 20°C = 0.1 hr-1 (0.1, 0.4), k at 26°C = 0.4 hr-1 (0.2, 0.6)). We show that warming-induced changes in nutrient removal are mediated by substrate, and that NH4+-N removal may be more sensitive to elevated temperatures, with implications for nutrient cycling under a warmer future.