“A strikingly rich zone”—Nutrient enrichment and secondary production in coastal marine ecosystems

Nixon, Scott W.; Buckley, Betty A.

doi:10.1007/bf02804905

Cited by 182 publications

(133 citation statements)

References 50 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

131

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…An underlying observation is that when phytoplankton biomass as chlorophyll was plotted against nitrogen loading or concentration from multiple water bodies that there was a strong positive correlation (Nixon and Pilson 1983). This portrayal gave a good composite picture of global eutrophication, but it overemphasized the idea of a direct ecosystem response to nitrogen.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, hypoxia from allochthonous sources, both anthropogenic and natural, is still a major occurrence. While a few recent publications differentiate these causes (Nixon 1995;Mallin et al 2006), and while some give excellent overviews of eutrophication-associated hypoxia (Diaz and Rosenberg 2008), there is an emphasis on nutrient-stimulated hypoxia as the only phenomenon from anthropogenic stress in aquatic systems. As an example, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) definition, along with a cited Ecological Society of America hypoxia fact sheet, makes no mention of hypoxia from allochthonous inputs (USGS 2006).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ubiquitous nature of nutrient enrichment of estuarine and coastal waters has been linked with observations of eutrophication (Nixon and Pilson 1983;Nixon and Buckley 2002), including bottom-water hypoxia (Officer et al 1984). Although a few recent publications have stressed the complexity of estuarine ecosystem response to nutrient enrichment (Cloern 2001;Caraco et al 2006;Paerl 2009), the association of nutrient enrichment with eutrophication is often oversimplified.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Estuarine oxygen dynamics: What can we learn about hypoxia from long‐time records in the Delaware Estuary?

Sharp

2009

Limnology & Oceanography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hypoxia and anoxia occurred in the upper Delaware Estuary throughout much of the 20th century and diminished over the past several decades. I reviewed 30 yr of data from my laboratory's research efforts, 40 yr of consistent monitoring data from a multistate agency, results from inconsistent data collection from the past century, and anecdotal information to construct a long-time picture of the decline and increase of dissolved oxygen concentrations (DO) in the urban region of the estuary. The primary cause of the DO decline appeared to be inputs or allochthonous materials from urban sources (reduced nitrogen and carbon). In spite of extremely high nutrient concentrations, excess algal production did not influence DO anywhere along the tidal freshwater stretch or the saline portion of the well-mixed Delaware Estuary; and it does not have an influence today. The nutrient loading to the Delaware Estuary is very high, yet the typical signs of eutrophication are not obvious. Based on a model of apparent oxygen utilization, the Delaware Bay apparently had higher primary production 50 yr ago, a time when nutrient concentrations were as high or higher than today, shellfish and finfish production were apparently also higher, and DO was close to saturation. This analysis is offered as guidance in assessing and managing estuarine eutrophication, which is too often considered narrowly to be the result of inadvertent overfertilization by nutrients or a single nutrient element.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Estuarine oxygen dynamics: What can we learn about hypoxia from long‐time records in the Delaware Estuary?

Sharp

2009

Limnology & Oceanography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Connectivity between habitats is facilitated by physical exchanges of water and movements or migrations of animals (Vanni et al 2004, Sheaves 2009, Hoffman et al 2015. The cross-habitat movements of nutrients and organic matter (OM) can influence food web dynamics and productivity in the recipient estuarine habitat (Nixon & Buckley 2002, Riley et al 2004). Mechanisms for cross-habitat exchanges include land− water coupling, downstream transport of nutrients and OM, and intrusion of nearshore nutrients and OM (Valiela & Bartholomew 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estuarine consumers utilize marine, estuarine and terrestrial organic matter and provide connectivity among these food webs

Dias¹,

Morais²,

Cotter³

et al. 2016

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The flux of organic matter (OM) across ecosystem boundaries can influence estuarine food web dynamics and productivity. However, this process is seldom investigated taking into account all the adjacent ecosystems (e.g. ocean, river, land) and different hydrological settings (i.e. river discharge). Therefore, we aimed to quantify the contribution of autochthonous and allochthonous OM to the lower food web along the estuarine salinity gradient, under different river discharge conditions. The carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stable isotope ratios of pelagic (zooplankton) and benthic (Corbicula fluminea) primary consumers indicated that they rely on a mixture of autochthonous and allochthonous OM, including terrestrial-derived OM. Unexpectedly, the highest contribution of terrestrial-derived OM to the estuarine food web was observed during a low river discharge period (up to 70%), that succeeded a large winter flood, showing that extreme weather events may produce prolonged effects on estuarine food webs. The contribution of marine-derived OM was higher during low river discharge periods (up to 88%) and was restricted to the seaward end of the estuary. Concomitantly, the contribution of phytoplankton to primary consumers was the highest observed (up to 91%). Further, both pelagic and benthic consumers also relied on benthic C (i.e. sediment OM and microphytobenthos). This study demonstrates that primary consumers enhance connectivity between estuarine ecosystems by utilizing subsidies of terrestrial and marine origin, and also between estuarine habitats through reliance on pelagic and benthic OM.

show abstract

“…Regarding the effect of nutrients on secondary production, the views and evidences are diverse. Up to a certain level of nutrients, positive effects on fish production can be expected following the principles of an agricultural model, where the amount of production is determined by the food available (Nixon and Buckley 2002). However, the cascading effects of changes in nutrients and primary productivity on fish biomasses are often not apparent in empirical data or are difficult to demonstrate (Micheli 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Has eutrophication promoted forage fish production in the Baltic Sea?

Eero

Andersson

Almroth‐Rosell

et al. 2016

Ambio

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reducing anthropogenic nutrient inputs is a major policy goal for restoring good environmental status of coastal marine ecosystems. However, it is unclear to what extent reducing nutrients would also lower fish production and fisheries yields. Empirical examples of changes in nutrient loads and concurrent fish production can provide useful insights to this question. In this paper, we investigate to what extent a multi-fold increase in nutrient loads from the 1950s to 1980s enhanced forage fish production in the Baltic Sea. We use monitoring data on fish stock dynamics covering the period of the nutrient increase, combined with nutrient concentrations from a 3-dimensional coupled physical-biogeochemical ocean model. The results suggest that nutrient enrichment enhanced the biomass level of forage fish by up to 50 % in some years and areas due to increased body weight of fish. However, the trends in fish biomasses were generally decoupled from changes in nutrient concentrations.

show abstract

“A strikingly rich zone”—Nutrient enrichment and secondary production in coastal marine ecosystems

Cited by 182 publications

References 50 publications

Estuarine oxygen dynamics: What can we learn about hypoxia from long‐time records in the Delaware Estuary?

Estuarine oxygen dynamics: What can we learn about hypoxia from long‐time records in the Delaware Estuary?

Estuarine consumers utilize marine, estuarine and terrestrial organic matter and provide connectivity among these food webs

Has eutrophication promoted forage fish production in the Baltic Sea?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About