Effects of biotic (shrimp) and abiotic (discharge) factors on the depositional environment quantified in a montane stream in Puerto Rico. (Shrimp/Algae/Can J. Fish Aquat. Sci. (1994))

Effects of biotic (shrimp) and abiotic (discharge) factors on the depositional environment were quantified in a montane stream in Puerto Rico. Electricity was used experimentally to exclude large (approximately >1cm in length) biota without artificially increasing sedimentation as in cage enclosure/exclosure experiments in stream systems. Shrimp (>1cm in length) were excluded from substrata by semicircular fence hooked up to battery-powered fence chargers which emitted continuous pulses of electricity. Unelectrified control substrata had natural high densities of atyid shrimp. Significantly greater masses of total sediment, fine and large organic particles, and algal biovolume occurred in shrimp exclusion treatments relative to controls. Shrimp exclusion treatments experienced slow and steady accumulation of sediments under base flow conditions and a large stepwise increase in sediment following a storm. No measurable sediment accrued in the presence of natural densities of shrimp under base flow conditions. Shrimp rapidly removed sediments that accrued during the storm (440-620 g*m2 dry mass-1), decreasing sediment mass in control treatments to near prestorm levels (5-13 g*m2 dry mass-1) within 30 h. Atyid shrimp can significantly affect the accumulation of organic and inorganic materials on rock substrata in stream pools between high-discharge events. Support for this work was provided by grants BSR-8811902, DEB-9411973, DEB-9705814 , DEB-0080538, DEB-0218039 , DEB-0620910 , DEB-1239764, DEB-1546686, and DEB-1831952 from the National Science Foundation to the University of Puerto Rico as part of the Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research Program. Additional support provided by the University of Puerto Rico and the International Institute of Tropical Forestry, USDA Forest Service.