17.11.2013 Views

TITLE PAGE - acumen - The University of Alabama

TITLE PAGE - acumen - The University of Alabama

TITLE PAGE - acumen - The University of Alabama

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

estimated by multiplying biomass by a conservative production:biomass relationship <strong>of</strong> 5 (Benke<br />

& Huryn, 2007).<br />

Variability in estimates <strong>of</strong> NPE, mean annual standing crop organic matter, mean annual<br />

macroinvertebrate biomass, and mean organic matter breakdown rates were accounted for by<br />

calculating 1000 means using the bootstrapping procedure described above for crayfish growth.<br />

Diet-specific crayfish demand was then compared to organic matter supply rates and<br />

macroinvertebrate secondary production using a two-sample randomization test (Manly, 1991).<br />

To determine whether resource deficits or surpluses existed, the bootstrapped data sets for dietspecific<br />

crayfish demand were subtracted from the bootstrapped data sets for organic matter<br />

supply rates and macroinvertebrate secondary production.<br />

Results<br />

Water temperature<br />

Average daily water temperature in all caves was approximately 13˚C and showed little<br />

annual variation (standard deviation <strong>of</strong> average daily water temperature: ±1˚C).<br />

Standing crop organic matter and macroinvertebrate biomass<br />

Standing crop organic matter was highest in Tony Sinks (132 g AFDM m -2 ) and lowest in<br />

Hering (22 g AFDM m -2 ), but differed only between Tony Sinks and Hering (F 2, 168 = 3.42, P =<br />

0.03; Fig. 1A). Standing crop organic matter did not vary among sampling dates (F 3,168 = 0.43, P<br />

= 0.73) and the cave × date interaction was not significant (F 6,168 = 1.30, P = 0.26). As mean<br />

quantity <strong>of</strong> resources increased among caves, resource aggregations became larger and patchier,<br />

which increased the spatial variability in resource availability (Fig. 1A). Macroinvertebrate<br />

biomass was highest in Tony Sinks (320 mg AFDM m -2 ) and lowest in Hering (27 mg AFDM m -<br />

2 ) and was significantly different among all caves (F 2, 166 = 39.55, P < 0.001; Fig. 1A; Table 3).<br />

109

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!