Keywords
Aquatic ecosystem
Biofilm
carbon
primary productivity
phytoplankton
Biofilm
carbon
primary productivity
phytoplankton
How to Cite
SK, S., S, N., & S, M. (2013). A review on the role of nutrients in development and organization of periphyton. Journal of Research in Biology, 3(1), 780-788. Retrieved from https://ojs.jresearchbiology.com/index.php/jrb/article/view/282
Abstract
Periphyton communities have not received wider attention and often misunderstood with ‘biofilm’ for their nature of development and role in aquatic ecosystem. To clarify its functional objective in aquatic ecosystem, present review proposes a functional definition for ‘periphyton’ in terms of ecological interactions and also outlines its ecological role in nutrient sharing with other aquatic components. The development and succession of periphyton is a function of nutrient and carbon (C) sharing with its constituent parts and ambient environment. Through mechanisms like entrapment, de novo synthesis, nutrient leakage, trophic upgrading etc., ambient nutrients are routed to periphyton and transferred to upper trophic levels. Periphyton communities stand next to phytoplankton for their contribution to primary productivity, in nutrient rich aquatic environment. Unlike phytoplankton, nutrient poor aquatic environment has no effect on periphytic primary productivity. As periphyton communities are attached to substratum, their ability to assimilate organic nutrient through substratum is an additional advantage over phytoplankton.
References
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Burkholder JM, Wetzel RG and Klomparensm KL. 1990. Direct comparison of phosphate uptake by adnate and loosely attached microalgae within an intact biofilm matrix. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 56(9):2882-2890.
Carpenter RC. 1986. Partitioning hervibory and its effects on coral reef algal communities. Ecol. Monogr., 56:345-363.
Choi YR and Markakis P. 1981. Blue green algae as a source of protein. Food Chem., 7(4):239-247.
Cooke WB. 1956. Colonization of artificial bare areas by micro-organsims. Bot. Rev., 22(9):613-638.
Costerton JW. 1984. The formation of biocide resistant biofilms in industrial, natural and medical systems. Dev. Ind. Microbiol., 25:363-372.
Costerton JW, Geesey GG and Cheng KJ. 1978. How bacteria stick. Sci. Am., 238(1):86-95.
Davey ME and O’ toole GA. 2000. Microbial biofilms: from ecology to molecular genetics. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. R., 64:847-867.
Dawes EA and Senior PJ. 1973. The role and regulation of energy reserve polymers in microorganisms. Adv. Microb. Physiol., 10:135-278.
Decho AW. 2000. Microbial biofilms in intertidal systems: an overview. Cont. Shelf Res., 20(10-11):1257-1273.
Decho AW and Moriarty DJW. 1990. Bacterial exopolymer utilization by a harpacticoid copepod: A methodology and results. Limnol. Oceanogr., 35(5):1039-1049.
Donnelly AP and Herbert RA. 1998. Bacterial interactions in the rhizosphere of seagrass communities in shallow coastal lagoons. J. Appl. Microbiol., 85(suppl 1):151s-160s.
Duffy JE and Hay ME. 2000. Strong impacts of grazing amphipods on the organization of a benthic community. Ecol. Monogr., 70(2):237-263.
Eminson D and Moss B. 1980. The composition and ecology of periphyton communities in freshwaters. I. The influence of host type and external environment on community composition. Brit. Phycol. J., 15(4):429-446.
Freeman C, Chapman PJ, Gilman K, Lock MA, Reynolds B and Wheater HS. 1995. Ion exchange mechanisms and the entrapment of nutrients by river biofilms. Hydrobiologia, 297:6l-65.
Freeman C and Lock AM. 1995. The biofilm polysaccharaide matrix: A buffer against changing organic substrate supply. Limnol. Oceanogr., 40(2):273-278.
Frost PC, Stelzer RS, Lamberti GA and Elser JJ. 2002. Ecological stoichiometry of trophic interactions in the benthos: understanding the role of C:N:P ratios in lentic and lotic habitats. J.N. Am. Benthol. Soc., 21(4):515-528.
Hagerthey SE and Kerfoot WC. 1998. Groundwater flow influences the biomass and nutrient ratios of epibenthic algae in a temperate seepage lake. Limnol. Oceanogr., 43:1227-1242.
Hansson L-A. 1989. The influence of a periphytic biolayer on phosphorus exchange between substrate and water. Arch. Hydrobiol., 115:21-26.
Hansson L-A. 1992. Factors regulating periphytic algal biomass. Limnol. Oceanogr., 37(2):322-328.
Hill WR and Knight AW. 1987. Experimental analysis of the grazing interaction between a mayfly and stream algae. Ecology 68(6):1955-1965.
Hillebrand H and Kahlert M. 2001. Effect of grazing and nutrient supply on periphyton biomass and nutrient stoichiometry in habitats of different productivity. Limnol. Oceanogr., 46(8):1881-1898.
Hillebrand H, Bennett DM and Cadotte MW. 2008. Consequences of dominance: a review of evenness effects on local and regional ecosystem processes. Ecology 89:1510-1520.
Hillebrand H, Worm B and Lotze HK. 2000. Marine microbenthic community structure regulated by nitrogen loading and grazing pressure. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 204:27-38.
Hobbie JE and Lee C. 1980. Microbial production of extracellular material: Importance in benthic ecology. In: Marine Benthic Dynamics (Eds: Tenose, K.R, and Coull, B.C) University of South Carolena Press, Georgetown, South Caroline. 11:341-346.
Hoskins DL, Stancyk SE and Decho AW. 2003. Utilization of algal and bacterial extracellular polymeric secretions (EPS) by the deposit-feeding brittlestar Amphipholis gracillima (Echinodermata). Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 247:93-101.
Hynes HBN. 1971. The ecology of running waters. University of Toronto Press. Toronto, 555.
Jones JI, Young JO, Haynes GM, Moss B, Eaton JW and Hardwick KJ. 1999. Do submerged aquatic plants influence their periphyton to enhance the growth and reproduction of invertebrate mutualists? Oecologia, 120(3):463-474.
Kahlert M and Baunsgaard MT. 1999. Nutrient recycling-a strategy of a grazer community to overcome nutrient limitation. J. N. Am. Benthol. Soc., 18(3):363-369.
Lamberti GA, Ashkenas LR, Gregory SV and Steinman AD. 1987. Effect of three herbivores on periphyton communities in laboratory streams. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol., 6(2):92-104.
Lignell R. 1990. Excretion of organic carbon by phytoplankton: Its relation to algal biomass, primary productivity and bacterial secondary productivity in the Baltic Sea. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 68:85-99.
Makk J, Beszteri B, ÁCS É, Márialigeti K and Szabó K. 2003. Investigations on diatom-associated bacterial communities colonizing an artificial substratum in the River Danube. Arch. Hydrobiol., 14(3-4):249-265.
Mc Cormick PV and Stevenson RJ. 1989. Effects of snail grazing on benthic algal community structure in different nutrient environments. J. N. Am. Benthol. Soc., 8(2):162-172.
Mulholland PJ, Steinman AD, Palumbo AV, Elwood JW and Kirschtel DB. 1991. Role of nutrient cycling and herbivory in regulating periphyton communities in laboratory streams. Ecology 72(3):966-982.
Neel JK. 1953. Certain limnological features of a polluted irrigation stream. Trans. Amer. Micr. Soc., 72(2):119-135.
Nielsen KJ. 2001. Bottom-up and top-down forces in tide pools: Test of a food chain model in an intertidal community. Ecol. Monogr., 72(2):187-217.
Norberg J. 1999. Periphyton fouling as a marginal energy source in tropical tilapia cage farming. Aquacul. Res., 30(6):427-430.
Pieczynska E. 1970. Periphyton in the trophic structure of freshwater ecosystem. P. Arch. Hydrobiol., 17:141-147.
Postgate JR. 1976. Death in macrobes and microbes. In: The survival of vegetative microbes (Eds: Gray, T.R.G, and Postgate, J.R) Sot. Gen. Microbial. Cambridge, 1-19.
Riber HH and Wetzel R. 1987. Boundary-layer and internal diffusion effects on phosphorus fluxes in lake periphyton. Limnol. Oceanogr., 32:1181-1194.
Saikia SK. 2011. Review on periphyton as mediator of nutrient transfer in aquatic ecosystem. Ecol. Balkanica, 3(2): 65-78.
Saikia SK and Das DN. 2009. Feeding ecology of Common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) in rice fish culture system of Apatani plateau, Arunachal Pradesh, India, Aquat. Ecol., 43(2):559-568.
Saikia SK and Nandi S. 2010. C and P in aquatic food chain: a review on C:P stoichiometry and PUFA regulation. Knowl. Managt. Aquatic Ecosyst., 398(03).
Sladeckova A. 1962. Limnological investigation methods for periphyton (Aufwuchs) community. Bot. Rev., 28(2):287-350.
Stevenson RJ. 1996. The stimulation and drag of current. In: Algal ecology: Freshwater benthic eco-systems (Eds: Stevenson, R.J, Bothwell, M.L, and Lowe, R.L) Academic Press, New York, USA, 321-340.
Stoderegger KE and Herndl GJ. 1999. Production of exopolymer particles by marine bacterioplankton under contrasting turbulence conditions. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 189:9-16.
Vadeboncoeur Y and Steinman AD. 2002. Periphyton function in lake ecosystems. TheScientificWorldJournal, 2:1449-1468.
Wetzel RG. 1983. Limnology. 2nd Edition. Saunders, Pheladelphia.
Wetzel RG. 1963. Primary Productivity of Periphyton. Nature, 197(4871):1026-1027.
Wetzel RG. 2001. Limnology: Lake and River Ecosystems. 3rd Ed. Academic Press, San Diego.
Whal M. 1989. Marine epibiosis I. Fouling and antifouling: some basic aspects. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 58:175-189.
Whitton BA and Potts M. 1982. Marine Littorals. In: The Biology of Cyanobacteria (Eds: Carr, N.G, and Whitton, B.A) Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, 515-542.
Young OW. 1945. A limnological investigation of periphyton Douglas Lake, Michigan. Trans. Amer. Micr. Soc., 64:1-20.
Armstrong E, Boyd KG, Pisacane A, Peppiatt CJ and Burgess JG. 2000. Marine microbial natural products in antifouling coatings. Biofouling, 16 (2-4):215-224.
Behning AL. 1924. Zur Erforschung der am Flussboden der Wolga lebenden Organismen. Monogr. Biol. Wolga. Statt., 1:1-398.
Bothwell ML. 1989. Phosphorus-limited growth dynamics of lotic periphyton diatom communities: Areal biomass and cellular growth rate response. Can. J. Fish. Aqua. Sci., 46(8):1293-1301.
Burkholder JM. 1996. Interaction of benthic algae with their substrata. In: Algal Ecology: Freshwater benthic ecosystem (Eds: Stevenson, R.J, Bothwell, M.L, and Lowe, R.L) Academic Press, San Diego, 253-297.
Burkholder JM and Wetzel RG. 1990. Epiphytic alkaline phosphatise activity on natural and artificial plants in P limited lake: re-evaluation of the role of macrophytes as a phosphorus source for epiphytes. Limnol. Oceanogr., 35(3):736-746.
Burkholder JM, Wetzel RG and Klomparensm KL. 1990. Direct comparison of phosphate uptake by adnate and loosely attached microalgae within an intact biofilm matrix. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 56(9):2882-2890.
Carpenter RC. 1986. Partitioning hervibory and its effects on coral reef algal communities. Ecol. Monogr., 56:345-363.
Choi YR and Markakis P. 1981. Blue green algae as a source of protein. Food Chem., 7(4):239-247.
Cooke WB. 1956. Colonization of artificial bare areas by micro-organsims. Bot. Rev., 22(9):613-638.
Costerton JW. 1984. The formation of biocide resistant biofilms in industrial, natural and medical systems. Dev. Ind. Microbiol., 25:363-372.
Costerton JW, Geesey GG and Cheng KJ. 1978. How bacteria stick. Sci. Am., 238(1):86-95.
Davey ME and O’ toole GA. 2000. Microbial biofilms: from ecology to molecular genetics. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. R., 64:847-867.
Dawes EA and Senior PJ. 1973. The role and regulation of energy reserve polymers in microorganisms. Adv. Microb. Physiol., 10:135-278.
Decho AW. 2000. Microbial biofilms in intertidal systems: an overview. Cont. Shelf Res., 20(10-11):1257-1273.
Decho AW and Moriarty DJW. 1990. Bacterial exopolymer utilization by a harpacticoid copepod: A methodology and results. Limnol. Oceanogr., 35(5):1039-1049.
Donnelly AP and Herbert RA. 1998. Bacterial interactions in the rhizosphere of seagrass communities in shallow coastal lagoons. J. Appl. Microbiol., 85(suppl 1):151s-160s.
Duffy JE and Hay ME. 2000. Strong impacts of grazing amphipods on the organization of a benthic community. Ecol. Monogr., 70(2):237-263.
Eminson D and Moss B. 1980. The composition and ecology of periphyton communities in freshwaters. I. The influence of host type and external environment on community composition. Brit. Phycol. J., 15(4):429-446.
Freeman C, Chapman PJ, Gilman K, Lock MA, Reynolds B and Wheater HS. 1995. Ion exchange mechanisms and the entrapment of nutrients by river biofilms. Hydrobiologia, 297:6l-65.
Freeman C and Lock AM. 1995. The biofilm polysaccharaide matrix: A buffer against changing organic substrate supply. Limnol. Oceanogr., 40(2):273-278.
Frost PC, Stelzer RS, Lamberti GA and Elser JJ. 2002. Ecological stoichiometry of trophic interactions in the benthos: understanding the role of C:N:P ratios in lentic and lotic habitats. J.N. Am. Benthol. Soc., 21(4):515-528.
Hagerthey SE and Kerfoot WC. 1998. Groundwater flow influences the biomass and nutrient ratios of epibenthic algae in a temperate seepage lake. Limnol. Oceanogr., 43:1227-1242.
Hansson L-A. 1989. The influence of a periphytic biolayer on phosphorus exchange between substrate and water. Arch. Hydrobiol., 115:21-26.
Hansson L-A. 1992. Factors regulating periphytic algal biomass. Limnol. Oceanogr., 37(2):322-328.
Hill WR and Knight AW. 1987. Experimental analysis of the grazing interaction between a mayfly and stream algae. Ecology 68(6):1955-1965.
Hillebrand H and Kahlert M. 2001. Effect of grazing and nutrient supply on periphyton biomass and nutrient stoichiometry in habitats of different productivity. Limnol. Oceanogr., 46(8):1881-1898.
Hillebrand H, Bennett DM and Cadotte MW. 2008. Consequences of dominance: a review of evenness effects on local and regional ecosystem processes. Ecology 89:1510-1520.
Hillebrand H, Worm B and Lotze HK. 2000. Marine microbenthic community structure regulated by nitrogen loading and grazing pressure. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 204:27-38.
Hobbie JE and Lee C. 1980. Microbial production of extracellular material: Importance in benthic ecology. In: Marine Benthic Dynamics (Eds: Tenose, K.R, and Coull, B.C) University of South Carolena Press, Georgetown, South Caroline. 11:341-346.
Hoskins DL, Stancyk SE and Decho AW. 2003. Utilization of algal and bacterial extracellular polymeric secretions (EPS) by the deposit-feeding brittlestar Amphipholis gracillima (Echinodermata). Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 247:93-101.
Hynes HBN. 1971. The ecology of running waters. University of Toronto Press. Toronto, 555.
Jones JI, Young JO, Haynes GM, Moss B, Eaton JW and Hardwick KJ. 1999. Do submerged aquatic plants influence their periphyton to enhance the growth and reproduction of invertebrate mutualists? Oecologia, 120(3):463-474.
Kahlert M and Baunsgaard MT. 1999. Nutrient recycling-a strategy of a grazer community to overcome nutrient limitation. J. N. Am. Benthol. Soc., 18(3):363-369.
Lamberti GA, Ashkenas LR, Gregory SV and Steinman AD. 1987. Effect of three herbivores on periphyton communities in laboratory streams. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol., 6(2):92-104.
Lignell R. 1990. Excretion of organic carbon by phytoplankton: Its relation to algal biomass, primary productivity and bacterial secondary productivity in the Baltic Sea. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 68:85-99.
Makk J, Beszteri B, ÁCS É, Márialigeti K and Szabó K. 2003. Investigations on diatom-associated bacterial communities colonizing an artificial substratum in the River Danube. Arch. Hydrobiol., 14(3-4):249-265.
Mc Cormick PV and Stevenson RJ. 1989. Effects of snail grazing on benthic algal community structure in different nutrient environments. J. N. Am. Benthol. Soc., 8(2):162-172.
Mulholland PJ, Steinman AD, Palumbo AV, Elwood JW and Kirschtel DB. 1991. Role of nutrient cycling and herbivory in regulating periphyton communities in laboratory streams. Ecology 72(3):966-982.
Neel JK. 1953. Certain limnological features of a polluted irrigation stream. Trans. Amer. Micr. Soc., 72(2):119-135.
Nielsen KJ. 2001. Bottom-up and top-down forces in tide pools: Test of a food chain model in an intertidal community. Ecol. Monogr., 72(2):187-217.
Norberg J. 1999. Periphyton fouling as a marginal energy source in tropical tilapia cage farming. Aquacul. Res., 30(6):427-430.
Pieczynska E. 1970. Periphyton in the trophic structure of freshwater ecosystem. P. Arch. Hydrobiol., 17:141-147.
Postgate JR. 1976. Death in macrobes and microbes. In: The survival of vegetative microbes (Eds: Gray, T.R.G, and Postgate, J.R) Sot. Gen. Microbial. Cambridge, 1-19.
Riber HH and Wetzel R. 1987. Boundary-layer and internal diffusion effects on phosphorus fluxes in lake periphyton. Limnol. Oceanogr., 32:1181-1194.
Saikia SK. 2011. Review on periphyton as mediator of nutrient transfer in aquatic ecosystem. Ecol. Balkanica, 3(2): 65-78.
Saikia SK and Das DN. 2009. Feeding ecology of Common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) in rice fish culture system of Apatani plateau, Arunachal Pradesh, India, Aquat. Ecol., 43(2):559-568.
Saikia SK and Nandi S. 2010. C and P in aquatic food chain: a review on C:P stoichiometry and PUFA regulation. Knowl. Managt. Aquatic Ecosyst., 398(03).
Sladeckova A. 1962. Limnological investigation methods for periphyton (Aufwuchs) community. Bot. Rev., 28(2):287-350.
Stevenson RJ. 1996. The stimulation and drag of current. In: Algal ecology: Freshwater benthic eco-systems (Eds: Stevenson, R.J, Bothwell, M.L, and Lowe, R.L) Academic Press, New York, USA, 321-340.
Stoderegger KE and Herndl GJ. 1999. Production of exopolymer particles by marine bacterioplankton under contrasting turbulence conditions. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 189:9-16.
Vadeboncoeur Y and Steinman AD. 2002. Periphyton function in lake ecosystems. TheScientificWorldJournal, 2:1449-1468.
Wetzel RG. 1983. Limnology. 2nd Edition. Saunders, Pheladelphia.
Wetzel RG. 1963. Primary Productivity of Periphyton. Nature, 197(4871):1026-1027.
Wetzel RG. 2001. Limnology: Lake and River Ecosystems. 3rd Ed. Academic Press, San Diego.
Whal M. 1989. Marine epibiosis I. Fouling and antifouling: some basic aspects. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 58:175-189.
Whitton BA and Potts M. 1982. Marine Littorals. In: The Biology of Cyanobacteria (Eds: Carr, N.G, and Whitton, B.A) Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, 515-542.
Young OW. 1945. A limnological investigation of periphyton Douglas Lake, Michigan. Trans. Amer. Micr. Soc., 64:1-20.
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