Ågren, Göran
- Department of Ecology and Environmental Research, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Research article2004Peer reviewed
Hessen DO, Agren GI, Anderson TR, Elser JJ, De Ruiter PC
The fate of carbon (C) in organisms, food webs, and ecosystems is to a major extent regulated by mass-balance principles and the availability of other key nutrient elements. In relative terms, nutrient limitation implies excess C, yet the fate of this C may be quite different in autotrophs and heterotrophs. For autotrophs nutrient limitation means less fixation of inorganic C or excretion of organic C, while for heterotrophs nutrient limitation means that more of ingested C will "go to waste" in the form of egestion or respiration. There is in general a mismatch between autotrophs and decomposers that have flexible but generally high C:element ratios, and consumers that have lower C:clement ratios and tighter stoichiometric regulation. Thus, C-use efficiency in food webs may be governed by the element ratios in autotroph biomass and tend to increase when C:element ratios in food approach those of consumers. This tendency has a strong bearing on the sequestration of C in ecosystems, since more C will be diverted to detritus entering soils or sediments when C-use efficiency is low due to stoichiometric imbalance. There will be a strong evolutionary pressure to utilize such excess C for structural and metabolic purposes. This article explores how these basic principles may regulate C sequestration on different scales in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems
Ecology
2004, Volume: 85, number: 5, pages: 1179-1192 Publisher: ECOLOGICAL SOC AMER
Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1890/02-0251
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/5472