Effects of Food Removal on Nutrient Release Rates and Lipid Content of Lake Michigan Pontoporeia hoyi

Pontoporeia hoyi, the dominant benthic invertebrate in the upper Great Lakes, appears to be well adapted to environments with seasonal inputs of high-quality food such as those supplied by the spring diatom bloom. Ammonium and phosphate excretion rates and lipid content were examined in P. hoyi under the following conditions: (1) field animals sampled seasonally, (2) food-deprived animals in filtered lake water, and (3) control animals held in native sediments without new food inputs. Nutrient excretion rates for P. hoyi (0.5 to 2 nmole NH4 (milligrams dry weight)−1∙h−1 and 0 to 0.15 nmole PO4 (milligrams dry weight)−1∙h−1) were low relative to rates previously reported for other benthic and pelagic invertebrates and varied little among the three treatment groups. In contrast to the animals held in the laboratory without new food inputs, field-collected P. hoyi accumulated increased levels of lipids following the spring diatom bloom. However, after lipid levels in field animals peaked in May, they decreased during the rest of the season at rates similar to those of starved and control animals. P. hoyi's low nutrient-excretion rates, and its ability to accumulate and store energy as lipids, for periods when food is not abundant, appear to be important factors allowing this animal to thrive in temperate lakes with spring diatom blooms.