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- Title
Fertilization of terrestrial vegetation by spawning Pacific salmon: the role of flooding and predator activity
- Authors
Schell, D. M.; Ben-David, M.; Hanley, T. A.
- Abstract
Spawning Pacific salmon (Onchorhynchus) transport marine-derived nutrients into streams and rivers. Subsequently, these marine-derived nutrients are incorporated into freshwater and terrestrial food webs through decomposition and predation. In this study, we investigated theinfluence of spawning Pacific salmon on terrestrial vegetation usingstable isotope analysis. We hypothesized that terrestrial vegetationnear streams or in areas with activity of piscivorous predators willshow higher 15N values compared with the same species growing elsewhere. The influence of spawning Pacific salmon as observed in elevated 15N in terrestrial consumers was also investigated. Data collected from five species of plants in 18 transects fromthe stream to the upland forest (0 to 1000 m) indicated that a significant decrease in 15N values occurred with increase in distance and relative elevation from the stream in 3 of the 5 plant species sampled. Values of 15N in plants at sites actively used by piscivorous predators were higher than those of the same plantsgrowing elsewhere, and similar to values measured near the stream. Adecrease in values of 15N and increase in values of 13C in muscles of small mammals, with increase in distance fromthe stream, indicated that this signature was not a result of directconsumption of salmon carcasses but rather an indirect assimilation of marine-derived nitrogen through terrestrial vegetation. These results indicate that salmon carcasses contribute to the nitrogen pool available to riparian vegetation. The spatial distribution of the marine-derived nitrogen is apparently determined by flooding and the activity patterns of piscivorous predators. The importance of these nitrogen additions to the riparian zone, however, will depend on whether nitrogen is a limiting factor to plant growth in this system, and requires further investigation.
- Subjects
ECOLOGY; FERTILIZATION (Biology); FLOODS; PACIFIC salmon; PREDATION; REPRODUCTION; SPAWNING
- Publication
Oikos, 1998, Vol 83, Issue 1, p47
- ISSN
0030-1299
- Publication type
Article