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Variations in eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) morphology and internal nutrient composition as influenced by increased temperature and water column nitrate

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Abstract

In an experimental mesocosm system, we evaluated changes in morphology and tissue nutrient content (carbon [C], nitrogen [N], phosphorus [P]) of eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) as influenced by increased temperature and nitrate. During the late summer-fall growing season (14 weeks, August through mid-November), control plants were compared to plants grown at elevated temperatures (3°C to 4°C above ambient, based on 20-yr weekly means) and elevated water column nitrate enrichment (8 μM NO3 −, pulsed daily). Both increased temperature and increased nitrate led to declines in shoot density (by 40% and 48% for nitrate and temperature treatments, respectively), as well as decreased leaf and root production. High temperature promoted increased total C content of leaf tissues, whereas high nitrate increased the percentage of N in belowground tissues and depressed the C∶N ratio in aboveground tissues. The data indicated that increases in nitrate or temperature can significantly reduce the size ofZ. marine shoots and can also alter the internal C and N content. This reduction was not associated with significant increases in light-attenuating algae as we controlled epiphytic growth, so we suggest that a direct physiological mechanism or other mechanism was involved.

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  1. Elon University, Center for Environmental Studies, Department of Biology, 27244, Elon, North Carolina

    Brant W. Touchette

  2. Department of Botany, North Carolina State University, 27695-7510, Raleigh, North Carolina

    JoAnn M. Burkholder & Howard B. Glasgow

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  1. Brant W. Touchette
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Touchette, B.W., Burkholder, J.M. & Glasgow, H.B. Variations in eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) morphology and internal nutrient composition as influenced by increased temperature and water column nitrate. Estuaries 26, 142–155 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02691701

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