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Non-conservative P and N fluxes and net ecosystem production in San Quintin Bay, México

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Abstract

San Quintin Bay, Mexico, is a hypersaline coastal lagoon where the main external forcing of physical and biogeochemical processes is oceanic. Non-conservative fluxes of inorganic N (ΔDIN) and P (ΔDIP), and aspects of net ecosystem metabolism were studied in this lagoon during August 1995, August 1996, and February 1996, by following the LOICZ budgetary modeling approach. The whole-system water exchange time during summer (≈13 d) was shorter than in winter (≈26 d) as northwesterly winds enhancing mixing with the ocean are more intense during the spring-summer upwelling season. Whole-bay ΔDIP values of +0.2 to +0.3 mmol m−2 d−1 in August, and <+0.01 mmol m−2 d−1 in February indicate that the system is a net source of dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP). DIP fluxes from the Bay to the ocean during August are probably balanced by a net import of particulate organic matter between 1,000–1,300 × 103 mol C d−1, equivalent to a net ecosystem production (NEP) between −24 and −31 mmol C m−2 d−1. ΔDIN showed opposite trends in August 1995 and August 1996, with a net import of 13×103 mol N d−1 and a net export of 30× 103 mol N d−1, respectively. However, N fixation minus denitrification (“apparent denitrification”) estimates of ≈−4 mmol N m−2 d−1 in both periods indicate that San Quintin Bay is a net sink of nitrogen. Results from a 3-box model indicate that during summer Box C, adjacent to the ocean, contributed 70–80% of the excess DIP produced in the whole-system. This observation and high apparent denitrification values of ≈−7 mmol N m−2 d−1 at the entrance of the Bay, suggest that the net heterotrophic condition of San Quintin Bay in summer is largely determined by imports of labile phytoplanktonic carbon generated in the adjacent ocean during upwelling.

A net flux of organic carbon of 30×106 mol C yr−1 was estimated from Box C, adjacent to the ocean, to Box B, locally known as Bahia Falsa, which is the area designated for oyster aquaculture in the lagoon. It is estimated that this net organic carbon supply is almost equivalent to the annual oyster food demand; our estimate is that oyster aquaculture in San Quintin Bay accounts for the vast majority of the net heterotrophy of Bahia Falsa.

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  1. Stephen V. Smith

    Present address: Departmento de Ecologia, CICESE, km 107 Carretera Tijuana-Ensenada, 22860, Baja California, Mexico

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  1. Instituto de Investigaciones Oceanológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, P.O. Box 453, 22830, Ensenada, Baja California, México

    Víctor F. Camacho-Ibar & José D. Carriquiry

  2. Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii, 96822, Honolulu, Hawaii

    Stephen V. Smith

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Camacho-Ibar, V.F., Carriquiry, J.D. & Smith, S.V. Non-conservative P and N fluxes and net ecosystem production in San Quintin Bay, México. Estuaries 26, 1220–1237 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02803626

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