Krill vs salps: dominance shift from krill to salps is associated with higher dissolved N:P ratios.

Pronounced atmospheric and oceanic warming along the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) has resulted in abundance shifts in populations of Antarctic krill and Salpa thompsoni determined by changes in the timing of sea-ice advance, the duration of sea-ice cover and food availability. Krill and salps represent the most important macrozooplankton grazers at the WAP, but differ profoundly in their feeding biology, population dynamics and stoichiometry of excretion products with potential consequences for the relative availability of dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus. Alternation of the dissolved nutrient pool due to shifts in krill and salp densities have been hypothesized but never explicitly tested by using observational data.

Multiple vs. single phytoplankton species alter stoichiometry of trophic interaction with zooplankton.

Despite the progress made in explaining trophic interactions through the stoichiometric interplay between consumers and resources, it remains unclear how the number of species in a trophic group influences the effects of elemental imbalances in food webs. Therefore, we conducted a laboratory experiment to test the hypothesis that multispecies producer assemblages alter the nutrient dynamics in a pelagic community. Four algal species were reared in mono- and polycultures under a 2 x 2 factorial combination of light and nutrient supply, thereby contrasting the stoichiometry of trophic interactions involving single vs.