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Episodic Biogeochemical Variability in a Low-Flow Mediterranean Estuary

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Abstract

To investigate to what extent episodic physical processes regulate nutrient availability and phytoplankton assemblages of the Mahon estuary (Minorca Island), we carried out an intensive field study during 2010–2011. During the study period, environmental conditions spanned from intense stratification to a continuous mixing and from lack of riverine inflow to intense runoff. Our data reveals a sequence of biogeochemical states of the estuary that result from the interplay between runoff, other non-periodic forcings (winds, sea level oscillations), and variations in water renewal. Seasonal runoff was revealed as a major driver of winter circulation and of the influx of inorganic nutrients, in particular nitrate. However, because of the combination between runoff and flushing time, the effects of floodwater events on phytoplankton are short-lived (days). Conversely, during summer, when freshwater influx declines, water renewal relies on pulsed atmospheric forcing that may be of local or remote origin. As depicted from the low nitrate concentrations (<1 μM) and enhanced ammonium (>1 μM), this change in circulation and external loads carries nutrient assimilation within the estuary head and forces the use of remnant nutrients through regenerating pathways to sustain an enhanced phytoplankton biomass at the lower estuary. Episodic variability represented between 52 and 65% of the annual chlorophyll variance. Despite the fact that episodic pulses represented intense departures from base biogeochemical state of the estuary, at time scale larger than weeks, the phytoplankton community composition and dynamics was largely regulated by the integrated effect of these episodes and other environmental drivers associated with seasonality rather than by individual storm events only. Our results suggest that even though the system presents good recovery capacity to individual storm episodes, it may be more vulnerable to increased nutrient fluxes during summer, as well as to changes in episode timing and frequency.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financed by the “Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad” MINECO grants EHRE (CTM2009-08270) and GRADIENTS (CTM2012-39476-C02-01). A Jordi’s work was carried out under a Ramón y Cajal contract from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. We are indebted to “Puertos del Estado” and “Autoritat Portuaria de Balears” for support during sampling and providing data from their archives. We are also grateful to Rafael Quintana, Itziar Álvarez, and Ana Massanet for assistance in fieldwork. Meteorological data were provided by the “Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET)” and sea level data by the “Puertos del Estado,” and watershed information was obtained from the IDE-Menorca (Consell Insular). We are grateful for the constructive comments of the two anonymous reviewers.

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  1. Institut Mediterrani d’Estudis Avançats, IMEDEA (UIB-CSIC), Miquel Marqués 21, 07190, Esporles, Illes Balears, Spain

    Gotzon Basterretxea, Antoni Jordi, Marly Carolina Martínez-Soto & Antonio Tovar-Sánchez

  2. Department of Ecotoxicology, Ecophysiology and Biodiversity of Aquatic Systems, ICMAN (CSIC), Campus Universitario Río San Pedro, 11510 Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain

    Antonio Tovar-Sánchez

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  1. Gotzon Basterretxea
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Correspondence to Gotzon Basterretxea.

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Basterretxea, G., Jordi, A., Martínez-Soto, M.C. et al. Episodic Biogeochemical Variability in a Low-Flow Mediterranean Estuary. Estuaries and Coasts 40, 1247–1262 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-017-0212-7

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