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Contribution of receptacles from the fucoidAscophyllum nodosum to the detrital pool of a north temperate estuary

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Abstract

The fucoid brown algaAscophyllum nodosum (L.) Le Jolis annually produces lateral reproductive branches (i.e. receptacles) approximately equal in weight to its vegetative thalli. The receptacles are shed within a single month during the spring. The estimated total input of receptacles to the detrital pool within the Great Bay Estuary System of New Hampshire-Maine, U.S.A., is 445 g dry wt·m−2·yr−1. Decomposition rates were rapid with only 50% or less of the original litter remaining after 50 days. Nitrogen and phosphorus flux from the litter bags varied with environmental conditions and habitats.

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Author notes

  1. M. N. Josselyn

    Present address: Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, 94132, San Francisco, CA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, University of New Hampshire, 03824, Durham, New Hampshire

    M. N. Josselyn & A. C. Mathieson

  2. the Jackson Estuarine Laboratory, University of New Hampshire, 03824, Durham, New Hampshire

    M. N. Josselyn & A. C. Mathieson

Authors
  1. M. N. Josselyn
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  2. A. C. Mathieson
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Additional information

Published with the approval of the Director of the New Hampshire Agriculture Experiment Station as Scientific Contribution No. 895. Jackson Estuarine Laboratory Contribution No. 61.

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Josselyn, M.N., Mathieson, A.C. Contribution of receptacles from the fucoidAscophyllum nodosum to the detrital pool of a north temperate estuary. Estuaries 1, 258–261 (1978). https://doi.org/10.2307/1351529

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1351529

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