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The influence of seasonality on benthic primary production in a Red Sea coral reef

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Abstract

Northern Red Sea coral reefs experience pronounced seasonal variations in environmental factors such as water temperature, light intensity, and nutrient availability. This allows studying related effects on primary production by different functional groups. The present study therefore quantified primary production of all dominant benthic primary producers from a Jordanian fringing reef (29° 27′ 31″ N, 34° 58′ 26″ E) by measuring net photosynthesis (P n) and dark respiration (R) using stirred respirometry chamber incubations during all four seasons of 2013. Annual mean P n was highest for the macroalga Caulerpa (901 nmol O2 cm−2 h−1) and lowest for both the soft coral Sarcophyton and sedimentary microphytobenthos (212 and 223 nmol O2 cm−2 h−1, respectively). Sedimentary microphytobenthos exhibited the strongest response to seasonality with 5.7 times higher P n in spring than in winter. R was highest in hard corals among all groups in every season, likely due to nighttime calcification and heterotrophic activity. Gross photosynthesis-to-respiration ratios (P g:R) were highest for turf algae and macroalgae as well as cyanobacterial mats. While R was primarily positively related to PAR and temperature and P g:R to inorganic nutrients, few groups revealed significant relations between P n and environmental parameters. Seasonal budgets found daily gross primary production and respiration to be dominated by hard and soft corals. Total reef gross primary production was comparable between less oligotrophic spring and more oligotrophic summer. This indicates that processes such as heterotrophic feeding and microbial dinitrogen fixation may help the functional groups overcome potential nutrient limitation of primary production in summer.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank L. Rix, S. Helber, and S. Basyoni for fieldwork assistance and logistical support, as well as C. Staschok and M. Birkicht for fieldwork preparation and nutrient sample analyses, K. Boos for statistical assistance, and R. M. van der Ven for comments on the manuscript. This work was funded by German Research Foundation (DFG) grant Wi 2677/6-1 to C.W.

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  1. Coral Reef Ecology Group (CORE), Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT), Fahrenheitstr. 6, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Nanne van Hoytema, Vanessa N. Bednarz, Ulisse Cardini, Malik S. Naumann & Christian Wild

  2. The University of Jordan- Aqaba and Marine Science Station (MSS), Aqaba, 77110, Jordan

    Fuad A. Al-Horani

  3. Faculty of Biology and Chemistry, University of Bremen, NW 2/Leobener Str., 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Christian Wild

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  1. Nanne van Hoytema
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Correspondence to Nanne van Hoytema.

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van Hoytema, N., Bednarz, V.N., Cardini, U. et al. The influence of seasonality on benthic primary production in a Red Sea coral reef. Mar Biol 163, 52 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-015-2787-5

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