Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Sediment community metabolism associated with continental shelf hypoxia, Northern Gulf of Mexico

  • Published:
Estuaries Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Net fluxes of respiratory metabolites (O2, dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), NH4 +, NO3 −, and NO2 −) across the sediment-water interface were measured using in-situ benthic incubation chambers in the area of intermittent seasonal hypoxia associated with the Mississippi River plume. Sulfate reduction was measured in sediments incubated with trace levels of35S-labeled sulfate. Heterotrophic remineralization, measured as nutrient regeneration, sediment community oxygen consumption (SOC), sulfate reduction, or DIC production, varied positively as a function of temperature. SOC was inversely related to oxygen concentration of the bottom water. The DIC fluxes were more than 2 times higher than SOC alone, under hypoxic conditions, suggesting that oxygen uptake alone cannot be used to estimate total community remineralization under conditions of low oxygen concentration in the water column. A carbon budget is constructed that compares sources, stocks, transformations, and sinks of carbon in the top meter of sediment. A comparison of remineralization processes within the sediments implicates sulfate reduction as most important, followed by aerobic respiration and denitrification. Bacteria accounted for more than 90% of the total community biomass, compared to the metazoan invertebrates, due presumably to hypoxic stress.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Literature Cited

  • Aller, R. 1998. Mobile deltaic and continental shelf muds as fluidized bed reactors.Marine Chemistry 61:143–155.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Alongi, D. 1997. Coastal Ecosystem Processes, CRC Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Atwood, D., A. Bratkovich, M. Gallagher, andG. Hitchcock. 1994. Introduction to the dedicated issue.Estuaries 17: 729–731.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bierman, Jr.,V., N. Rabalais, S. Hinz, D.-W. Zhu, R. E. Turner, andW. Wiseman. 1994. A preliminary mass balance model of primary productivity and dissolved oxygen in the Mississippi River plume/Inner Gulf shelf region.Estuaries 17:886–899.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Boesch, D. and N. Rabalais. 1991. Effects of hypoxia on continental shelf benthos: Comparisons between the New York Bight and the northern Gulf of Mexico, p. 27–34.In R. Tyson and T. Pearson (eds.), Modern and Ancient Continental Shelf Anoxia. Geological Society Special Publication Number 58, London, U.K.

  • Boland, G. S. andG. T. Rowe. 1991. Deep-sea benthic sampling with the GOMEX box corer.Limnology and Oceanography 36: 1015–1020.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bratbak, G. andI. Dundas. 1984. Bacterial dry matter content and biomass estimations.Applied and Environmental Microbiology 48:755–757.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cai, W.-J. andC. Reimers. 1995. Benthic oxygen flux, bottom water oxygen concentration and core top organic carbon content in the deep northeast Pacific Ocean.Deep-Sea Research I 42:1681–1699.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Canfield, D., B. Jorgensen, andH. Fossing. 1993. Pathways of organic carbon oxidation in three continental margin sediments.Marine Geology 113:27–40.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carey, A., J. Pennock, J. Lehter, W. Lyons, W. Schroeder, andJ.-C. Bonzongo. 1999. The Role of the Mississippi River in Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia. Environmental Institute Publication No. 70, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cederwall, H. andR. Elmgren. 1990. Biological effects of eutrophication in the Baltic Sea, particularly the coastal zone.Ambio 19:109–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cloern, J. 2001. Our evolving conceptual model of the coastal eutrophication problem.Marine Ecology Progress Series 210:223–253.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Diaz, R. andR. Rosenberg. 1995. Marine benthic hypoxia, A review of its ecological effects and the behavioural responses of benthic macrofauna.Oceanography and Marine Biology Annual Reviews 33:245–303.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dortch, Q., N. Rabalais, R. Turner, andG. Rowe. 1994. Respiration rates and hypoxia on the Louisiana shelf.Estuaries 17:862–872.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eadie, B., B. McKee, M. Lansing, J. Robbins, S. Metz, andJ. Trefry. 1994. Records of nutrient enhanced coastal ocean productivity in sediments from the Louisiana continental shelf.Estuaries 17:754–765.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fenchel, T. andB. Finlay. 1995. Ecology and Evolution in Anoxic Worlds. Oxford Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferdelman, T., C. Lee, S. Pantoja, J. Harder, B. Bebout, andH. Fossing. 1997. Sulfate reduction and methanogenesis in aThioploca-dominated sediment off the coast of Chile.Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 61:3065–3079.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fry, J. C. 1988. Determination of biomass, p. 27–71.In B. Austin (ed.), Methods in Aquatic Microbiology. John Wiley & Sons Ltd., New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner, W., E. Escobar Briones, andG. Rowe. 1993. Ammonium excretion by benthic invertebrates and sediment-water nitrogen flux in the Gulf of Mexico near the Mississippi River outflow.Estuaries 16:799–808.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gaston, G. 1985. Effects of hypoxia on macrobenthos of the inner shelf off Cameron, Louisiana.Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 20:603–613.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gerlach, S., A. Hahn, andM. Schrage. 1985. Size spectra of benthic biomass and metabolism.Marine Ecology Progress Series 26:161–173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grant, J. andP. Schwinghamer. 1987. Size partitioning of microbial and meiobenthic biomass and respiration on Brown's Bank, southwest Nova Scotia.Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 25:647–661.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green, M., R. Aller, andJ. Aller. 1998. The influence of carbonate dissolution on the survival of shell-bearing meiobenthos in nearshore sediments.Limnology and Oceanography 43: 18–28.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hagerman, L., A. Josefson, andJ. Jensen. 1996. Benthic macrofauna and demersal fish, p. 155–177.In B. Jorgensen and K. Richardson (eds.), Eutrophication in Coastal Marine Ecosystems, Coastal and Estuarine Studies 52. American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Justić, D., N. Rabalais, andR. E. Turner. 1996. Effects of climate change on hypoxia in coastal waters: A doubled CO2 scenario for the northern Gulf of Mexico.Limnology and Oceanography 41:992–1003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levin, L., J. Gage, C. Martin, andP. Lamont. 2000. Macrofauna community structure within and beneath the oxygen minimum zone, NW Arabian Sea.Deep-Sea Research II 47:189–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, S. andJ. W. Morse. 1991. Sulfate reduction and iron sulfide mineral formation in Gulf of Mexico anoxic sediments.American Journal of Science 291:55–89.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lohrenz, S., G. Fahnenstiel, andD. Redalje. 1994. Spatial and temporal variations of photosynthetic parameters in relation to environmental conditions in coastal waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico.Estuaries 17:779–795.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mahaut, M., M. Sibuet, andY. Shirayama. 1995. Weight-dependent respiration rates in deep-sea organisms.Deep-Sea Research 42:1575–1582.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marvin-DiPasquale, M. C. andD. Capone. 1998. Benthic sulfate reduction along the Chesapeake Bay central channel. I. Spatial trends and controls.Marine Ecology Progress Series 168: 213–228.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Miller-Way, T., G. Boland, G. Rowe, andR. Twilley. 1994. Sediment oxygen consumption and benthic nutrient fluxes on the Louisiana continental shelf: A methodological comparison.Estuaries 117:809–815.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morse, J. andG. Rowe. 1999. Benthic biogeochemistry beneath the Mississippi River plume.Estuaries 22:206–214.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Murrell, M. andJ. Fleeger. 1989. Meiofauna abundance on the Gulf of Mexico continental shelf affected by hypoxia.Continental Shelf Research 9:1049–1062.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, T., P. Blackwelder, T. Hood, B. McKee, N. Romer, C. Alverez-Zarikian, andS. Metz. 1994. Time-based correlation of biogenic, lithogenic and authigenic sediment components with anthropogenic inputs in the Gulf of Mexico NECOP study area.Estuaries 17:873–885.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pakulski, J., R. Benner, T. Whitledge, R. Amon, B. Eadie, L. Cifuentes, J. Ammerman, andD. Stockwell. 2000. Microbial metabolism and nutrient cycling in the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River plumes.Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 50: 173–184.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Porter, K. G. andY. S. Feig. 1980. The use of DAPI for identifying and counting aquatic microflora.Limnology and Oceanography 25:943–948.

    Google Scholar 

  • Qureshi, N. 1995. The role of fecal pellets in the flux of carbon to the sea floor on a river-influenced continental shelf subject to hypoxia. Ph.D. Dissertation. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rabalais, N., N. Smith, D. Harper, andD. Justić. 2001. Effects of seasonal hypoxia on continental shelf benthos, p. 211–240.In N. Rabalais and R. E. Turner (eds.), Coastal Hypoxia: Consequences for Living Resources and Ecosystems. Coastal and Estuarine Studies 58, American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rabalais, N., R. E. Turner, andD. Scavia. 2002. Beyond science into policy: Gulf of Mexico hypoxia and the Mississippi River.Bioscience 52:129–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rabalais, N. N., R. E. Turner, W. J. Wiseman, Jr., and D. F. Boesch. 1991. A brief summary of hypoxia on the northern Gulf of Mexico, p. 35–47.In R. V. Tyson and T. H. Person (eds.). Modern and Ancient Continental Shelf Anoxia. Geological Society Special Publication 58, London, U.K.

  • Rabalais, N., W. Wiseman, Jr., andR. E. Turner. 1994. Comparison of continuous records of near-bottom dissolved oxygen from the hypoxia zone along the Louisiana coast.Estuaries 17:850–861.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Redalje, D., S. Lohrenz, andG. Fahnenstiel. 1994. The relationship between primary production and the vertical export of particulate organic matter in a river impacted coastal ecosystem.Estuaries 17:829–838.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rowe, G. 2001. Seasonal hypoxia in the bottom water off the Mississippi River delta.Journal of Environmental Quality 30:281–290.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rowe, G. andC. H. Clifford. 1973. Modifications of the Birge-Ekman box corer for use with SCUBA or deep submergence research vessels.Limnology and Oceanography 18:172–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rowe, G. T. 1983. Biomass and production in the deep-sea benthos, p. 97–121.In G. Rowe (ed.), Deep-Sea Biology, The Sea, Volume 8. Wiley, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rowe, G., M. Sibuet, J. Deming, J. Tietjen, andA. Khripounoff. 1990. Organic carbon turnover time in deep-sea benthos.Progress in Oceanography 24:141–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rowe, G. 1997. The structure and function of Arctic benthic communities: Are high-latitude ecosystems different?Korean Journal for Polar Research 8:85–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schallenberg, M., J. Kalff, andJ. B. Rasmussen. 1989. Solution to problems in enumerating sediment bacteria by direct counts.Applied and Environmental Microbiology 55:1214–1219.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt, J., J. Deming, P. Jumars, andR. Keil. 1998. Constancy of bacterial abundance in surficial marine sediments.Limnology and Oceanography 43:976–982.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tengberg, A., F. De Bovee, P. Hall, W. Berelson, D. Chadwick, G. Ciceri, P. Glud, F. Graziottin, J. Jahnke, A. Khripounoff, S. Lieberman, V. Nuppenau, O. Pfannkucke, C. Reimers, G. Rowe, A. Sahami, F. Sayles, M. Schurters, D. Smallman, B. Wehrli, andP. Dewilde. 1995. Benthic chamber and profiling landers in oceanography—A review of design, technical solutions and functioning.Progress in Oceanography 35:253–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thamdrup, B., H. Fossing, andB. Jorgensen. 1994. Manganese, iron, and sulfur cycling in a coastal marine sediment (Aarhus Bay, Denmark).Geochemica Cosmochimica Acta 58:5115–5129.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Trefry, J. andB. Presley. 1982. Manganese fluxes from Mississippi delta sediments.Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 46:1715–1726.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Trefry, J., S. Metz, T. Nelson, R. Trocine, andB. Eadie. 1994. Transport of particulate organic carbon by the Mississippi River and its fate in the Gulf of Mexico.Estuaries 17:839–849.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, R. E., N. Qureshi, N. Rabalais, Q. Dortch, D. Justić, R. Shaw, andJ. Cope. 1998. Fluctuating silicate:nitrate ratios and coastal plankton food webs.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 95:13048–13051.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Velji, M. I. andL. J. Albright. 1986. Microscopic enumeration of attached marine bacteria of seawater, marine sediment, fecal matter, and kelp blade samples following pyrophosphate and ultrasound treatments.Canadian Journal of Microbiology 32: 121–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warnken, K., G. Gill, P. Santschi, andL. Griffin. 2000. Benthic exchange of nutrients in Galveston Bay, Texas.Estuaries 23:647–661.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University, 77843, College Station, Texas

    Gilbert T. Rowe & John W. Morse

  2. 506 third Avenue, 08035, Haddon Heights, New Jersey

    Marta Elizabeth Cruz Kaegi

  3. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, 70123, New Orleans, Louisiana

    Gregory S. Boland

  4. Instituto Ciencias del Mar y Limnologia, Universidad National Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico, D.F., Mexico

    Elva G. Escobar Briones

Authors
  1. Gilbert T. Rowe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Marta Elizabeth Cruz Kaegi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. John W. Morse
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Gregory S. Boland
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Elva G. Escobar Briones
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gilbert T. Rowe.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rowe, G.T., Kaegi, M.E.C., Morse, J.W. et al. Sediment community metabolism associated with continental shelf hypoxia, Northern Gulf of Mexico. Estuaries 25, 1097–1106 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02692207

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02692207

Keywords

Search

Navigation