Carolyn Faithfull, Ann-Kristin Bergstrm

carolyn.faithfull@umu.se ann-kristin.bergstrom@umu.se
University of Hawai'i, USA, Ume University, Sweden

Here we determine how size affects seston stoichiometric

ratios in an oligotrophic lake, and assess the relative
contributions of bacteria, phytoplankton, ciliate and rotifer
biomass to each seston size class.

Stoichiometry and size link phytoplankton growth

rates, nutrient and light acquistion, and influence
sinking, grazing susceptibility and food web dynamics,
as well as biogeochemical cycling. Thus, important
ecological patterns may be missed if we overlook
changes in seston stoichiometric ratios with size.

Rotifer biomass was < 1 % of 30-100 m seston.

63 % of all detritus was in the 1.7-10 m size class.

Bacteria

Biomass (mg L )

Seston is used as a proxy of phytoplankton stoichiometric

ratios. Many phytoplankton traits vary with size, however,
most studies measure seston stoichiometry over a single
broad range. This large size range results in other planktonic
materials influencing seston stoichiometric ratios, and
important patterns in seston stoichiometry may be missed.

toichiometry differs with seston size

-1

oes stoichiometry vary with seston

size?

89 % of total phytoplankton biomass was < 30 m.

C:P and C:N ratios varied differently with size

C:P ratio was lowest in the
smallest size class and
highest in 1.7-10 m, which
contained the most detritus.

Phytoplankton
Ciliates
Detritus

easuring seston size and composition

0.7-1.7

C:N ratio
increased linearly
with size.

32 mesocosms
3
0.48 m were run
for 3 weeks.

1.7-10

10-30

30-100

Seston size (m)

ize affected the composition of seston

C:P ratio was lowest in the smallest size class. Sterner et

Seston was sequentially filtered into four size classes.

0.7-1.7

1.7-10

10-30

30-100

% Phytoplankton was
negatively related to C:P and
C:N ratios for seston < 30 m.

% Detritus was positively

related to C:P and C:N for
multiple size classes

al. (1998) also found C:P ratio was lower in seston < 1
m under high light conditions. This could be due to high
bacterial biomass, as bacteria are P rich (Vadstein 2000).
However, bacterial biomass was not related to C:P ratio.
Seston C:N increased with size, as predicted when light is

abundant and NO3 is limiting, as small cells have higher

N requirements, but large cells can store more N (Mei et
al. 2011; Maranon et al. 2013). Light was abundant in
the mesocosms and nitrogen limited phytoplankton
growth (Faithfull et al. 2011).

0.7-1.7 m
1.7-10 m
10-30 m
30-100 m
Not significant

More detritus resulted in higher C:P and C:N ratios. In a

survey of 112 lakes, Hessen (2006) also found that C:P

ratio increased with percentage detritus.
C:N and detritus was not positively related when all size

We determined plankton community composition and size

structure.

classes were pooled. Thus, important stoichiometric

patterns may be missed if measuring a single broad
seston size range.

Carbon: nitrogen (C:N) and carbon: phosphorus (C:P) seston

stoichiometry was measured.

Trophic state may affect size dependent stoichiometric

The mesocosms were oligotrophic with low dissolved organic

carbon (DOC), total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN).
-1

DOC (mg L )
Mean
3.23
Standard error
0.04

-1

TP (g L )
13.10
0.73

-1

TN (g L )
330
1.33

References
Acknowledgments
We thank Jon Karlsson, Anna Svahlin, Carola Sjgren and Mrten Sderqvist for help in the field
and the lab. This study was part of the Lake Ecosystem Response to Environmental Change
(LEREC) and was supported with grants from the Wallenberg foundation and the Swedish
Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (Formas).

20 40 60 80
% Phytoplankton

100 0

20 40 60
% Detritus

80 100

patterns. i.e. Large phytoplankton dominate in high

nutrient conditions and may also have high C:P ratios
(Finkel et al. 2010). Thus, in eutrophic lakes C:P could
increase linearly with seston size. However, this will also
depend on the average size of detritus.

Faithfull, C. L., A. Wenzel, T. Vrede, and A. K. Bergstrom. 2011. Testing the light : nutrient hypothesis in an oligotrophic boreal lake. Ecosphere 2.
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Hessen, D. O. 2006. Determinants of seston C : P-ratio in lakes. Freshwater Biology 51: 1560-1569,.
Maranon, E., P. Cermeno, D. C. Lopez-Sandoval, T. Rodriguez-Ramos, et al. 2013. Unimodal size scaling of phytoplankton growth and the size dependence of nutrient uptake and use. Ecology Letters 16: 371-379.
Mei, Z. P., Z. V. Finkel, and A. J. Irwin. 2011. Phytoplankton growth allometry and size-dependent C:N stoichiometry revealed by a variable quota model. Marine Ecology Progress Series 434: 29-43,.
Sterner, R. W., J. Clasen, W. Lampert, and T. Weisse. 1998. Carbon: phosphorus stoichiometry and food chain production. Ecology Letters 1: 146-150.
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