Is nutrient
recycling by benthic freshwater consumers as important?
The few available data show some clear patterns
that are in agreement with both stoichiometric theory
and pelagic data. For example, insects and snails in a
N-limited desert stream frequently disturbed by
floods excreted 15–70% of the total ammonium
supplied daily (based on 24-h N budgets) to primary
producers (Grimm, 1988). An exotic snail population
in a spring-fed stream excreted 65% of the ammonium
demand of benthic plants and microbes