Publication Date:
2022-05-25
Description:
Author Posting. © Inter-Research, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of Inter-Research for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Marine Ecology Progress Series 368 (2008): 117-126, doi:10.3354/meps07564.
Description:
Increased nutrient inputs to temperate coastal waters have led to increased occurrences of macroalgal blooms worldwide. To identify nutrients that are limiting to macroalgae and to determine whether different forms of these nutrients and long-term ambient nutrient conditions affect macroalgal response, we used in situ enrichment methods and tested the response of 2 bloom-forming species of macroalgae, Ulva lactuca and Gracilaria tikvahiae, from shallow estuaries of Waquoit Bay, Massachusetts, USA, that receive different land-derived N inputs. We enriched caged macroalgal fronds with nitrate, ammonium, phosphate, and N + P combinations, and measured growth, nutrient content, and δ15N signatures of fronds after 2 wk of incubation. In these estuaries, P did not limit growth, however, the 2 species differed in growth response to N additions. Growth of U. lactuca was greater in Childs River (CR), the estuary with higher nitrate inputs, than in Sage Lot Pond (SLP); growth in SLP increased with nitrate and ammonium enrichment. In contrast, growth of G. tikvahiae was greater in SLP than in CR, but had no growth response to N enrichment in either site. C and N contents differed initially between species and sites, and after nutrient enrichment. Final tissue % N increased and C:N decreased after nitrate and ammonium enrichment. δ15N values of the macroalgae demonstrated uptake of the experimental fertilizers, and a higher affinity and faster turnover of internal N pools with ammonium than nitrate enrichment in both species. We suggest that U. lactuca blooms in areas with both high nitrate and ammonium water column concentrations, and is more N-limited in oligotrophic waters where DIN levels are too low to sustain high growth rates. G. tikvahiae has a greater N storage capacity than U. lactuca, which may allow it to grow in less nutrient-rich waters.
Description:
We thank the following funding
sources for supporting this research: NOS/ECOHAB grant
#NA16OP2728, Palmer McCleod Fellowship awarded to
M.T., NOAA/NERRS and EPA STAR graduate fellowships
awarded to S.E.F., and NSF REU support awarded to C.A.
Keywords:
Macroalgal blooms
;
Eutrophication
;
Nutrient limitation
;
N uptake
;
Assimilation
;
Ulva spp.
;
Gracilaria spp.
;
Nitrate
;
Ammonium
;
Phosphate
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Article
Format:
application/pdf
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