Effects of light intensity, water velocity, and species composition on carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios in periphyton

Abstract

Periphyton was allowed to grow on glass plates suspended in the water column of a small stream under two conditions of light and water velocity, over two seasons, to assess the influence of the thickness of benthic boundary layers on stable isotope fractionation. Isotopic signatures for both carbon and nitrogen in samples of periphyton varied with light intensity and season, but not with current velocity. In summer, periphyton grown under low-light conditions had depleted 13 C and 15 N values relative to periphyton grown under high light. In autumn, isotopic signatures were generally more depleted than in summer, but did not vary systematically with light intensity or water velocity. These results suggest that isotopic fractionation in periphyton was more strongly influenced by the intensity of metabolic activity than by variations in the thickness of the benthic boundary layer.