Effects of stream velocity and phosphorus concentrations on alkaline phosphatase activity and carbon:phosphorus ratios in periphyton

We studied several streams spanning a steep dissolved phosphorus (PO4–P) gradient to test the hypothesis that faster stream velocity would reduce alkaline phosphatase activity (APA) and carbon:phosphorus (C:P) of benthic periphyton because higher velocities should increase the supply rate of dissolved phosphorus at the community–water interface. We tested the hypothesis that the differences in APA and C:P between fast and slow velocity locations...