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A thought on the relevance of natural ecosystems for tanks
As I was hiking in the woods yesterday, it occurred to me that a major
difference between our tanks and the natural systems where ecosystem studies
are conducted is not just scale, but the linkage to the terrestrial
ecosystem. Many aquatic ecosystems will be phosphate limited in part
because nitrogen species run off from the land much more easily than the
relatively immobile (in soils) phosphate. Perhaps this is stating the
obvious, but one of the major differences between tanks and aquatic systems
is the source of nutrients (fish food+fertilizer vs leachate). Limitation
always has to do with the relationship between use and supply. So, my two
cents worth on why aquatic ecosystem data is probably not all that relevant
for our tanks. Sorry to chew up the bandwidth!
Doug