Journal ArticleDOI
Nutrient Limitation of Net Primary Production in Marine Ecosystems
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TLDR
There is a feeling among many limnologists and environmental engineers who study lakes that marine ecosystems also probably are phosphorus limited, and environmental management agencies often assume that phosphorus limitation in marine ecosystems is the rule.Abstract:
The question of nutrient limitation of primary production in estuaries and other marine ecosystems has engendered a great deal of debate. Although nitrogen is often named as the primary limiting nutrient in seawater (3, 17-19, 50, 52, 55, 61, 76, 80), this is by no means universally accepted. Many workers have argued that phosphorus is limiting (58, 71), that both nitrogen and phosphorus can simultaneously be limiting (9), or that primary production can switch seasonally from being nitrogen-limited to phosphorus-limited (6, 46). Others argue that nutrients are not limiting at all in many marine ecosystems, including highly oligotrophic waters (15). To some extent these disagreements result from poor communication due to different definitions of nutrient limitation. Considerable argument also occurs over the various methods and approaches used to estimate nutrient limitation. Limnologists in particular have tended to be critical of the methods often used to study nutrient limitation in marine ecosystems (23). Nutrient limitation in lakes has historically received more study than that in estuaries, and most mesotrophic and eutrophic north-temperate lakes are phosphorus limited (8, 62, 63, 66, 81). Thus, there is a feeling among many limnologists and environmental engineers who study lakes that marine ecosystems also probably are phosphorus limited. Lacking strong mechanistic arguments to explain why nutrient limitation might be different in estuaries than in lakes, environmental management agencies often assume that phosphorus limitation in marine ecosystems is the rule.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Macroalgal bloom dynamics in a highly eutrophic southern California estuary
TL;DR: A 16-mo long monitoring study was carried out in Upper Newport Bay estuary (UNB), Orange County, California, to quantify the macroalgal community of a southern California estuary as discussed by the authors.
Journal ArticleDOI
Porewater stoichiometry of terminal metabolic products, sulfate, and dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen in estuarine intertidal creek-bank sediments
Nathaniel B. Weston,W.P. Porubsky,Vladimir A. Samarkin,Matthew J Erickson,Stephen E. MacAvoy,Samantha B. Joye +5 more
TL;DR: In this paper, porewater equilibration samplers were used to obtain pore water inventories of inorganic nutrients (NH4+, NOx, PO43−), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrogen (DON), sulfate (SO42−), DIC, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), chloride (Cl−), methane (CH4) and reduced iron (Fe2+) in intertidal creek-bank sediments at eight sites in three estuarine systems over a range of salinities and seasons.
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Climate-driven changes in coastal marine systems of western Europe
TL;DR: It is suggested that climate might strongly influence the marine coastal envi- ronment and act in synergism with other anthropogenic pressures to alter the state and functioning of biological and ecological systems and the services they provide.
Journal ArticleDOI
Nutrient regimes and their effect on distribution of phytoplankton in the Bay of Bengal.
TL;DR: Relatively greater nutrient concentrations along the WB than the CB appear to contribute to higher phytoplankton abundance, and physical stratification, light and eddies also seem to influence the distribution and abundance of centrales.
Journal ArticleDOI
Triggers for the Cambrian explosion: Hypotheses and problems
TL;DR: Abrupt appearance of major bilaterian clades in the fossil record during the first three stages of the Cambrian Period has puzzled the scientific world since 1830s, and many proposed causes including environmental, developmental, and ecological hypotheses, are reviewed.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Particulate organic matter flux and planktonic new production in the deep ocean
TL;DR: The primary production in the oceans results from allochthonous nutrient inputs to the euphotic zone (new production) and from nutrient recycling in the surface waters (regenerated production) as discussed by the authors.
Journal ArticleDOI
Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Eutrophication in the Coastal Marine Environment
TL;DR: Removal of phosphate from detergents is not likely to slow the eutrophication of coastal marine waters, and its replacement with nitrogen-containing nitrilotriacetic acid may worsen the situation.
Journal ArticleDOI
Nutrient limitation of phytoplankton in freshwater and marine environments: A review of recent evidence on the effects of enrichment1
R. E. Hecky,Peter Kilham +1 more
TL;DR: It is concluded that the extent and severity of N limitation in the marine environment remain an open question, despite the fact that by the late seventies the evidence for P limitation had become so great that phosphorus control was recommended as the legislated basis for controlling eutrophication in North American and European inland waters.