Spatial and temporal variability in the nutritional quality of basal resources along a temperate river/estuary continuum

•Benthic pools are the most nutritional resources based on essential fatty acids.•Most benthic algae pools did not conform to the light:nutrient hypothesis.•No spatial pattern occurred in the origin of organic components in suspended pools.•Periods after high freshwater inflow did not coincide with high terrestrial inputs.•The basal resources corresponded closest to the riverine productivity model.