Life Sciences Commons^™

High Interspecific Variation In Nutrient Excretion Within A Guild Of Closely Related Caddisfly Species, Jared A. Balik, Brad W. Taylor, Susan E. Washko, Scott A. Wissinger

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Understanding the amount of variation in functional traits between closely related species within guilds is critical for understanding links between community composition and ecosystem processes. Nutrient excretion is an important link between animals and their environments, and aquatic invertebrate communities can supply a considerable proportion of ecosystem nutrient demand via excretion. We quantified nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) excretion rates of 10 species of larval caddisflies that inhabit high‐elevation ponds and wetlands to determine the magnitude of variation in nutrient excretion within this guild. We found considerable interspecific variation in biomass‐specific excretion of nitrogen (eightfold differences), phosphorus (sevenfold differences), and …