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Photosynthetic characteristics of benthic microalgae and seagrass in Lake Illawarra, Australia

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Abstract

Lake Illawarra, is a typical shallow intertidal coastal barrier lagoon in New South Wales, Australia. This paper reports the first examination of photosynthetic characteristics of benthic microalgae and seagrass in this lake by measuring the oxygen exchange procedure (flux) using sediment-core incubations in the laboratory.

Photosynthesis vs irradiance relationships (P–I curves) were generated from measurements made at nine irradiances for microphytobenthos (MPB) at five different water depths (sites) during September 2002. Maximum benthic gross primary production (GPmax) for MPB in this lake tended to decrease with the increasing water depth from Site 5 (about 0.2 m deep) to Site 1 (about 3.0 m deep), and was correlated with decreasing surface sediment Chl-a concentrations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oceans and Coastal Research Centre, Environmental Science, University of Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

    Wenchuan Qu, R.J. West & R.J. Morrison

  2. Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong, NSW , 2522, Australia

    Chenwei Su

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  1. Wenchuan Qu
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  3. R.J. West
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  4. R.J. Morrison
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Qu, W., Su, C., West, R. et al. Photosynthetic characteristics of benthic microalgae and seagrass in Lake Illawarra, Australia. Hydrobiologia 515, 147–159 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:HYDR.0000027326.46856.0a

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:HYDR.0000027326.46856.0a

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