‘Ghost nutrients’ from fish farms are transferred up the food web by phytoplankton grazers

Pitta, Paraskevi; Tsapakis, Manolis; Apostolaki, Eugenia T.; Tsagaraki, Tatiana M.; Holmer, Marianne; Karakassis, Ioannis

doi:10.3354/meps07763

Cited by 100 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Indeed, water column parameters are often not correlated with the extent of benthic impact. This negligible effect in the pelagic system has been attributed to the important diluting effect of the sea (Pitta et al, 2006), to the rapid grazing of planktonic ciliates (Pitta et al, 2009) or to the 6 The analysis of biofilms enables medium term rather than momentary states of the studied ecosystem (Brummer et al, 2003). Therefore, biofilms could provide the "memory" of disturbance that the water column seems to lack.…”

Section: Eliminado: Ismentioning

confidence: 99%

Biofilm responses to marine fish farm wastes

Sanz‐Lázaro

Navarrete-Mier

Marín

2011

Environmental Pollution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The structural, trophic and element accumulation changes in the biofilm community due to organic matter enrichment, eutrophication and metal contamination derived from fish farming were studied. The biofilm biomass, polysaccharide content, trophic niche and element accumulation was quantified along an environmental gradient of fish farm wastes in two seasons. Biofilm structure and trophic diversity was influenced by seasonality as well as by the fish farm waste load. Fish farming enhanced the accumulation of organic carbon, nutrients, selenium and metals by the biofilm community. The accumulation pattern of these elements was similar regardless of the structure and trophic niche of the community. This suggests that the biofilm communities can be considered a reliable tool for assessing dissolved aquaculture wastes. Due to the ubiquity of biofilms and its wide range of consumers, its role as a sink of dissolved wastes may have important implications for the transfer of aquaculture wastes to higher trophic levels in coastal systems.

show abstract

Section: Eliminado: Ismentioning

confidence: 99%

Biofilm responses to marine fish farm wastes

Sanz‐Lázaro

Navarrete-Mier

Marín

2011

Environmental Pollution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Indeed, a series of abiotic (water column and sediment nutrients) and biotic (seagrass shoot density, biomass and growth) variables revealed that fish farming activities had affected the meadow and references therein), which showed decreased production and increased mortality 20 m away from the cages (Marbà et al 2006, Díaz-Almela et al 2008). Hence, we selected one station (hereafter called 'cages') which was located as close to the fish cages as possible (around 20 m away) at a depth of 16 m. Although Ruiz et al (2010) detected a dispersion of farm wastes over several kilometres, a dialysis bag experiment at the study site showed that nutrient concentration in the water column decreased significantly 500 m away from the fish cages (Pitta et al 2009), implying that the spatial extent of fish-farming impact in our case is smaller. Furthermore, analyzed a series of variables in the water column, sediment, seagrass and benthic fauna from 4 sites, including our study site, and suggested that fish-farming impact is evident up to 400 m from the cages.…”

Section: Sampling Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced carbon sequestration in a Mediterranean seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) ecosystem impacted by fish farming

Apostolaki¹,

Holmer

Marbà³

et al. 2011

Aquacult. Environ. Interact.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We studied the relationship between sediment nutrient enrichment and carbon sequestration, using the ratio of gross primary production to respiration (P/R), in a fishfarming impacted and an unaffected Mediterranean seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) ecosystem in the Aegean Sea, Greece. Carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) sedimentation, nutrient pools in sediment and dissolved nutrients in pore water were significantly and positively intercorrelated, indicating close linkage between sedimentation and sediment nutrient pools in seagrass meadows. C, N and P sediment pools were significantly enhanced in the impacted meadow throughout the year, even during winter when fish farming activity was low. In the impacted sediment, the increase in C and N was higher than P, reflecting a faster remineralization and uptake of P than C and N. The ecosystem P/R ratio decreased exponentially with sediment nutrient enrichment. Threshold values are given for C, N and P sedimentation rates and sediment pools, and for N and P concentrations in pore waters, after which P/R ratio in the seagrass meadow decreases below 1, indicating a shift from autotrophy to heterotrophy with sediment nutrient enrichment. Such a regime shift indicates a loss of storage capacity of the seagrass ecosystem, jeopardizing the key role of P. oceanica as a carbon sink in the Mediterranean.

show abstract

“…Without considering reduction, there are some particles, which disperse to Lebanon even from the southernmost farms. The eastern Mediterranean is ultraoligotrophic (Berman et al, 1984) and any addition of nutrients, either as fertilizer or by river input, is rapidly consumed Pitta et al, 2009;Suari and Brenner, 2015). According to Suari and Brenner (2015), nutrients are being both advected and biologically consumed in such a way that the biological uptake is so fast that it cannot be detected by measurements.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Microbial grazing plays a key role in regulating phytoplankton biomass, keeping Chl a at very low levels and effectively transferring nutrients up the food web Pitta et al, 2009). Lack of a detectable response of phytoplankton to nutrient enrichment has been attributed also to the rapid dilution of nutrients, since marine sites used for fish farming are selected for their relatively strong local current regime to ensure efficient water renewal (Gowen et al, 1983).…”

Section: Caveats and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To date, no model has been used for the eastern Levantine basin, a densely populated and complex region with high potential and large demand for mariculture. Moreover, unlike previous Lagrangian models, we also consider the effect of biological uptake of the released nutrients by primary producers, a major factor in depleting nutrients Pitta et al, 2009;Suari and Brenner, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Quantitative Management Tool Reflecting Impact of Nutrient Enrichment from Mariculture in the Levantine Basin

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mariculture production has increased significantly in recent years due to global rise in human population. However, in addition to providing food, fish farms are also a source of nutrients and antibiotics to the water column. Here, we model the nutrient changes originating from fish cages in the Eastern Mediterranean by utilizing a Lagrangian modeling approach that followed trajectories of the water parcels. The effects of farm size and the farm's distance from the shoreline were included in the model, and biological uptake and sinking of nutrients were incorporated into the analysis. By using computation of back-trajectories examining the origin of the water arriving at strategically important shoreline areas, such as desalination plants, we were able to identify which of the proposed farm locations might be potentially harmful. The results suggest that remotely-located, smaller and spatially distant farms are more preferable to limit the nutrient effects resulting from mariculture activity.

show abstract

‘Ghost nutrients’ from fish farms are transferred up the food web by phytoplankton grazers

Cited by 100 publications

References 32 publications

Biofilm responses to marine fish farm wastes

Biofilm responses to marine fish farm wastes

Reduced carbon sequestration in a Mediterranean seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) ecosystem impacted by fish farming

A Quantitative Management Tool Reflecting Impact of Nutrient Enrichment from Mariculture in the Levantine Basin

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About