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Content of Organic Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus in Deep-Water Coralline Algae Biocenoses, South China Sea

  • MARINE CHEMISTRY
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Abstract

The influence of habitat depth on the content of organic carbon (Corg), as well as organic and mineral forms of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), in the biocenosis of coralline algae at depths of 5 to 150 m was studied in spring in the South China Sea. It has been found that the Corg content in tissues decreased from 72 to 42 g/m2 with increasing depth to 150 m. The N content also decreased with depth but to a lesser extent, from 15 to 10 g/m2, while the P content increased linearly from 0.75 to 4.29 g/m2. The atomic ratio C/N/P in the biocenosis at depths of 5–10 m did not vary significantly and averaged at 187 : 31 : 1, which is comparable to the mean values obtained for the common species of reef-building corals. Unlike Corg and N, the P content in the algal biocenosis increased with depth more than fivefold. Correspondingly, the C/N/P ratio amounted to 24 : 5 : 1 at a depth of 150 m. Such a depth-dependent increase in the proportion of phosphorus in the biocenosis, with simultaneous reduction in the Corg and, to a lesser extent, N contents, can be explained by the release of phosphorus during in the breakdown of organic matter in the biocenosis of coralline algae with the formation of insoluble calcium phosphates.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are grateful to V.V. Sapozhnikov (Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography), A.V. Skriptsova (Zhirmunsky National Scientific Center of Marine Biology, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences), P.Ya. Tishchenko (Il’ichev Pacific Oceanological Institute, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences), and an anonymous reviewer for critical comments during preparation of the manuscript.

Funding

The study was carried out under the topic “Adaptation of Marine Autotrophic Organisms to Change in Climate and Anthropogenic Environmental Conditions: Physiological, Biochemical, and Ecological Aspects,” State registration no. 115 081 110 042, Federal Agency for Scientific Organizations no. 0268-2014-0012, 2015–2017, as well as with the financial support of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, VAST-005.

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  1. Zhirmunsky National Scientific Center of Marine Biology, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 690041, Vladivostok, Russia

    I. I. Cherbadgy & L. N. Propp

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Correspondence to I. I. Cherbadgy.

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Translated by E. Shvetsov

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Cherbadgy, I.I., Propp, L.N. Content of Organic Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus in Deep-Water Coralline Algae Biocenoses, South China Sea. Oceanology 59, 514–522 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437019040015

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