Abstract
Coral reef lagoons have generally been regarded as sinks for organic matter exported from more productive reef front and reef flat zones. The object of this study was to examine the importance of detritus as a carbon source for benthic communities in the lagoon at Davies Reef, central Great Barrier Reef. We report the results of seasonal measurements, taken in 1986, of bacterial numbers and production, protozoan numbers, community primary production and respiration in the sediments of Davies Reef lagoon. Deposition rates of organic matter in the lagoon were also measured. Deposition rates (±1 SE) of carbon ranged from 9.2 (±1.5) to 140.7 (±10.3) mg Cm-2d-1. Deposition rates were highest in winter and spring, lowest in summer. Rates of bacterial production ranged from 4.7 (±0.2) pmol thymidine incorporated g-1 dry wt (DW) h-1 in winter to 23.5 (±1.0) pmol thymidine incorporated g-1 DW h-1 in spring. The number of ciliates ranged from 65 (±10) to 356 (±50) cm-3 through the year and the number of large (≥20 μm) flagellates from 38 (±7) to 108 (±16) cm-3. There were no clear relationships between the sediment organic content, detrital input or temperature and the rates of bacterial processes, community metabolism or the standing stocks of microbes in the lagoon. The relative significance of detritus and in situ primary production as sources of carbon in the lagoon varied with season. In summer and autumn, detritus was less important than primary production as a source of carbon (4 to 27% of total carbon input). In winter and spring, detritus input became more significant in supply of carbon to the sediments (32 to 67% of the total carbon input). The lagoon does not simply act as a sink for carbon exported from the reef flat. We calculate that only 5% of the net reef flat primary production reached lagoon sediments in summer, but nearly 40% in winter.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature cited
Alongi, D. M. (1986). Quantitative estimates of benthic protozoa in tropical marine systems using silica gel: a comparison of methods. Estuar. cstl Shelf Sci. 23: 443–450
Alongi, D. M. (1989). Detritus in coral reef ecosystems: fluxes and fates. Proc. 6th. int. Symp. Coral Reefs 2: 29–36 [Choat, J. H. et al. (eds.) Sixth International Coral Reef Symposium Executive Committee, Townsville, Australia]
Barnes, D. J. (1983). Profiling coral reef productivity and calcification using pH and oxygen electrodes. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 79: 213–231
Barnes, D. J. (1989). Seasonality in community productivity and calcification at Davies Reef, central Great Barrier Reef. Proc. 6th int. Symp. Coral Reefs 2: 521–527 [Choat, J. H. et al. (eds.) Sixth International Coral Reef Symposium Executive Committee, Townsville, Australia]
Bratbak, G., Dundas, I. (1984). Bacterial dry matter content and biomass estimations. Appl. envirl Microbiol. 48: 755–757
Coffroth, M. A. (1990). Mucous sheet formation on poritid corals: an evaluation of coral mucus as a nutrient source on reefs. Mar. Biol. 105: 39–49
Dobbs, F. C., Guckert, J. B., Carman, K. R. (1989). Comparison of three technique for administering radiolabeled substrates to sediments for trophic studies: incorporation by microbes. Microb. Ecol. 17: 237–250
Ducklow, H. T. (1983). The production and fate of bacteria in the oceans. BioSci. 33: 494–501
Findlay, R. H., Pollard, P. C., Moriarty, D. J. W., White, D. C. (1985). Qualitative determination of microbial activity and community nutritional status in estuarine sediments: evidence for a disturbance artifact. Can. J. Microbiol. 31: 493–498
Folk, R. L. (1974). Petrology of sedimentary rocks. Hemphill, Austin, Texas
Hamner, W. M., Jones, M. S., Carleton, J. H., Hauri, I. R., Williams, D. McB. (1988). Zooplankton, planktivorous fish, and water currents on a windward reef face: Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Bull. mar. Sci. 42: 459–479
Hansen, J. A., Alongi, D. M., Moriarty, D. J. W., Pollard, P. C. (1987). The dynamics of benthic microbial communities at Davies Reef, central Great Barrier Reef. Coral Reefs 6: 63–70
Hatcher, B. G. (1983a). The role of detritus in the metabolism and secondary production of coral reef ecosystems. In: Baker, J. T., Carter, R. M., Sammarco, P. W., Stark, K. P. (eds.) Proceedings of the Inaugural Great Barrier Reef Conference. James Cook University Press, Townsville, p. 317–325
Hatcher, B. G. (1983b). Grazing in coral reef ecosystems. In: Barnes, D. J. (ed.) Perspectives on coral reefs. Clouston, Manuka, p. 164–169
Hobbie, J. E., Daley, R. J., Jasper, R. (1977). Use of Nuclepore filters for counting bacteria by fluorescence microscopy. Appl. envirl Microbiol. 33: 1225–1228
Johannes, R. E., and coauthors (1972). The metabolism of some coral reef communities: a team study of nutrient and energy flux at Eniwetak. BioSci. 22: 541–543
Kinsey, D. W. (1978). Productivity and calcification estimates using slack water periods and field enclosures. In: Stoddart, D. R., Johannes, R. E. (eds.) Coral reefs: research methods. UNESCO, Paris, p. 439–468
Kinsey, D. W. (1979). Carbon turnover and accumulation by coral reefs. PhD thesis, University of Hawaii, Honolulu
Kinsey, D. W. (1985a). The functional role of back-reef and lagoonal systems in the central Great Barrier Reef. Proc. 5th int. Symp. Coral Reefs 6: 223–228 [Gabrié, C. et al. (eds.) Antenne Museum-EPHE, Moorea, French Polynesia]
Kinsey, D. W. (1985b). Metabolism, calcification and carbon production I. Systems level studies. Proc. 5th int. Symp. Coral Reefs 4: 505–526 [Gabrié, C. et al. (eds.) Antenne Museum-EPHE, Moorea, French Polynesia]
Klumpp, D. W., McKinnon, A. D. (1989). Temporal and spatial patterns in primary production of a coral-reef epilithic algal community. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 131: 1–22
Klumpp, D. W., Polunin, N. V. C. (1989). Partitioning among grazers of food resources within damselfish territories on a coral reef. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 125: 145–169
Klumpp, D. W., Polunin, N. V. C. (1990). Algal production, grazers and habitat partitioning on a coral reef: positive correlation between grazing rate and food availability. In: Barnes, M. (ed.) Trophic relationships in the marine environment. Aberdeen University Press, Aderdeen, p. 372–388
Klumpp, D. W., Pulfrich, A. (1989). Trophic significance of herbivorous macroinvertebrates on the central Great Barrier Reef. Coral Reefs 8: 135–144
Koop, K., Larkum, A. W. D. (1987). Deposition of organic material in a coral reef lagoon, One Tree Island, Great Barrier Reef. Estuar. cstl Shelf Sci. 25: 1–9
Lewis, J. B. (1980). Coral reef ecosystems. In: Longhurst, A. R. (ed.) Analysis of marine ecosystems. Academic Press, London, p. 127–158
Lorenzen, C. J. (1967). Determination of chlorophyll and pheopigments: spectrometric equations. Limnol. Oceanogr. 12: 343–346
Moriarty, D. J. W. (1986). Measurement of bacterial growth rates in aquatic systems from rates of nucleic acid synthesis. Adv. microb. Ecol. 9: 245–292
Moriarty, D. J. W. (1988). Accurate conversion factors for calculating bacterial growth rates from thymidine incorporation into DNA: elusive or illusive? In: Cappenberg, T. E., Steenbergen, C. L. M. (eds.) Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on the Measurement of Microbial Activities in the Carbon Cycle in Aquatic Ecosystems. Adv. Limnol. 31: 211–217
Moriarty, D. J. W. (1989). Relationships of bacterial biomass and production to primary production in marine sediments. In: Hattori, T., Ishida, Y., Maruyama, Y., Morita, R. Y., Uchida, A. (eds.) Recent advances in microbial ecology. Japan Scientific Societies Press, Tokyo, p. 349–354
Moriarty, D. J. W., Pollard, P. C. (1990). Effects of radioactive labelling of macromolecules, disturbance of bacteria and adsorption of thymidine to sediment on the determination of bacterial growth rates in sediment with tritiated thymidine. J. microbiol. Meth. 11: 127–139
Moriarty, D. J. W., Pollard, P. C., Hunt, W. G., Moriarty, C. M., Wassenberg, T. J. (1985). Productivity of bacteria and microalgae and the effect of grazing by holothurians on a coral reef flat. Mar. Biol. 85: 293–300
Odum, E. P., Odum, H. T. (1955). Trophic structure and productivity of a windward coral reef community on Eniwetok Atoll. Ecol. Monogr. 25: 291–320
Pollard, P. C. (1987). Dialysis: a simple method of separating labelled bacterial DNA and tritiated thymidine from aquatic sediments. J. Microbiol. Meth. 7: 91–101
Pollard, P. C., Moriarty, D. J. W. (1984). Validity of isotope dilution of tritiated thymidine during incorporation into DNA as an estimate of bacterial growth rates. Appl. envirl Microbiol. 48: 1075–1083
Rice, D. L., Tenore, K. R. (1981). Dynamics of carbon and nitrogen during the decomposition of detritus derived from estuarine macrophytes. Estuar. cstl Shelf Sci. 13: 681–690
Riddle, M. J., Alongi, D. M., Dayton, P. K., Hansen, J. A., Klumpp, D. W. (1990). Detrital pathways in a coral reef lagoon. I. Macrofaunal biomass and estimates of production. Mar. Biol. 104: 109–118
Roman, M. R., Furnas, M. J., Mullin, M. M. (1990). Zooplankton abundance and grazing at Davies Reef, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Mar. Biol. 105: 73–82
Russ, G. R. (1987). Is rate of removal of algae by grazers reduced inside territories of tropical damselfishes? J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 110: 1–17
Sandstrom, M. W., Tirendi, F., Nott, A. (1985). Direct determination of organic carbon in modern reef sediments and calcareous organisms after dissolution of carbonate. Mar. Geol. 70: 321–329
Strayer, D. (1988). On the limits to secondary production. Limnol. Oceanogr. 33: 1217–1220
Tenore, K. R., Hanson, R. B., McClain, J., Maccubbin, A. E., Hodson, R. E. (1984). Changes in composition and nutritional value to a benthic deposit feeder of decomposing detritus pools. Bull. mar. Sci. 35: 299–311
Williams, P. J. LeB. (1984). Bacterial production in the marine food chain: the emperor's new suit of clothes? In: Fasham, M. J. R. (ed.) Flows of energy and materials in marine ecosystems. Plenum Press, New York, p. 271–300
Winer, B. J. (1971). Statistical principles in experimental degign, 2nd edn. MacGraw Hill, Kogakusha, Tokyo
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by G. F. Humphrey, Sydney
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hansen, J.A., Klumpp, D.W., Alongi, D.M. et al. Detrital pathways in a coral reef lagoon. Marine Biology 113, 363–372 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00349160
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00349160