Abstract
Sediment porewater nutrients often occur at concentrations that are orders of magnitude higher than nutrients in overlying waters, and accordingly may subsidise growth of benthic macroalgal mats in estuarine ecosystems. The relative contribution of porewater nutrients is expected to be particularly important for macroalgae entrained in intertidal mudflat sediments, where access to water column nutrients is tidally constrained. In this study, filamentous Gracilaria chilensis thalli were simultaneously exposed to sediment and overlying water nutrient sources, labelled using 15N tracers (15NH4+ or 15NO3−) during a 5-day experiment. Dissolved inorganic N (DIN) uptake from porewater and overlying water accounted for 33 and 52%, respectively, of the N estimated as necessary to support the growth of G. chilensis, despite the two-fold lower DIN concentration of the overlying water and its periodic availability (8 h day−1). Of the total N assimilated by the plants, ~ 15% could not be accounted for, supporting the acquisition of other N forms in order to meet demand. We also found that regardless of background NH4+:NO3− ratios (i.e. 1:3 in overlying water and 12:1 in porewater), plants accumulated 15NH4+ significantly more readily than 15NO3−, indicating a preference for NH4+. This ability to utilise multiple sources and species of N relatively rapidly may partly explain the competitive success of entrained macroalgae relative to non-entrained species and historically abundant seagrass beds in these environments. These results underscore the significance of both internal nutrient loading and external inputs as important in sustaining opportunistic macroalgal blooms in shallow estuaries.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by Environment Southland and Greater Wellington Regional Councils, Department of Conservation (NZ), New Zealand Coastal Society (PhD Research Grant), Botanical Society of Otago (Peter Bannister Student Field Grant) through research Grants, with additional support from the University of Otago (Doctoral scholarship). We would like to acknowledge Dr Barry Robertson, Robertson Environmental, for revealing the overall need for this work and helping with site selection, and Nick Ward, Environment Southland, for his support in the field. We also thank Professor Charles T. Driscoll and four anonymous reviewers whose comments greatly improved this manuscript.
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Robertson, B.P., Savage, C. Mud-entrained macroalgae utilise porewater and overlying water column nutrients to grow in a eutrophic intertidal estuary. Biogeochemistry 139, 53–68 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-018-0454-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-018-0454-x