Phosphorus Pumps, Nitrogen Sinks, and Silicon Drains: Plumbing Nutrien (original) (raw)

Nitrogen and phosphorus are most often identified as the nutrients limiting algal biomass or productivity in aquatic ecosystems while silicon is an essential element for diatom growth. Steady state conditions greatly simplify discussion of nutrient cycles because inputs of a nutrient equal outputs and the concentrations and fluxes within the ecosystem are invariant. Losses of nutrients to burial in sediments are virtually unmeasured in the African great lakes. Good measurements of nutrient burial rates require undisturbed, continuous sedimentation, interpretable radiochronology and appropriate nutrient analysis of the biogenic portion of the sediment matrix. The rate of phosphorus cycling sets the ecosystem tempo for all the nutrients in these great lakes as in most lakes. The African Great Lakes exhibit a great range of morphometries and geological settings within a tropical climate which has been shown to vary on time scales from decades to eons.