Water column and sediment nitrogen and phosphorus distribution patterns in the Florida Keys, USA

Szmant, Alina M.; Forrester, Amy

doi:10.1007/s003380050026

Cited by 13 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…The rest of the Keys have either individual residential septic tanks or small waste-water treatment facilities with deep-injection wells for sewage disposal (Kruczynski and McManus 2002). Other researchers refute this hypothesis (Szmant and Forrester 1996;Hughes and Szmant 1999). Several investigators (Lapointe et al 1990;Paul et al 1995aPaul et al , 1995b have hypothesized that sewage from septic systems and canals in the Florida Keys is being transported to the offshore reefs; however, supportive data are based only on samples collected in canals or directly adjacent to the shoreline.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological aspects of black band disease of corals: relationships between disease incidence and environmental factors

2002

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Eleven environmental factors (salinity, water depth, water temperature, nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, soluble phosphate, total phosphate, turbidity, coral diversity, and percent coral cover) were measured at 190 sites on 12 patch reefs of the Florida Keys. Each (2-m-diameter) site was centered around a coral colony with active black band disease (n=21) or a haphazardly selected healthy coral of a species known to be susceptible to black band disease (n=169). Statistical analysis was performed to detect any relationship between each environmental factor and black band disease incidence. Five factors (water temperature, water depth, coral diversity, and concentrations of orthophosphate and nitrite) exhibited statistically significant relationships with black band disease. These are discussed in terms of the etiology of the disease as well as the reef environment.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological aspects of black band disease of corals: relationships between disease incidence and environmental factors

2002

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“…However, many studies have shown the well-developed capacity of coral reef communities to take up dissolved and particulate nutrients from surrounding, oligotrophic seawater, as well as a capacity for nitrogen fixation Wiebe et al 1975;Wiebe 1985;Larkum et al 1988;Larned and Atkinson 1997). In several reef systems, eutrophication resulting from anthropogenic nutrient inputs has been shown to alter community structure and species diversity of corals (Smith et al 1981;Sander 1987a, 1987b;Grigg and Dollar 1991;Szmant and Forrester 1996;Hughes and Connell 1999;Wilkinson 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Significance of groundwater nitrogen discharge into coral reefs at Ishigaki Island, southwest of Japan

et al. 2002

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Groundwater discharge from adjacent terrestrial areas can be a potentially important nutrient source to coastal coral reefs, since adjacent lands are often overlaid with permeable bedrock such as limestone. The quantity of groundwater nitrogen discharged into the Shiraho and Kabira coral reefs from their namesake watersheds on Ishigaki Island southwest of the Ryukyu Islands, Japan (24°19¢-37¢N, 124°4¢-21¢E) was monitored. These watersheds were subject to different types of nitrogen loading. The groundwater nitrogen discharge was compared by two independent methods, one based on measuring dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) concentrations in the groundwater near the coastline, the other by estimating nitrogen loading from various land uses within the watershed. For a common watershed, the two methods agreed within a factor of two. The Shiraho reef received 4-or 5.5-fold more nitrogen than the Kabira reef. Groundwater discharge contributes significantly to the reef nitrogen budget, and is potentially a key factor controlling the biomass and succession of aquatic vegetation of the reefs.

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“…The water-quality debate is additionally fueled in Florida by reports of increased nutrient concentrations (Lapointe, O'Connell, and Garrett 1990), the presence of viral tracers (Paul et al 1995) and fecal indicator bacteria (Paul et al 1997) that are detectable in nearshore waters and corals (Lipp et al 2002), but other studies have not found increased nutrients or these microbial constituents in offshore waters or sediments (Szmant and Forrester 1996), seagrass beds (Fourqurean and Zieman 2002), or algae (Hanisak and Siemon 1999). A threeyear study of nearshore waters (Keller and Itkin 2002) throughout the Keys found that total nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations did not differ significantly between developed and undeveloped shorelines, although variability was high.…”

Section: Water Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ecological Shifts along the Florida Reef Tract review, Swart (personal communication) cautions that for several reasons it is not possible to use specific δ 15 N values alone as an indicator for sewage, including: (1) variable isotopic signals for sewage that are not always heavy; (2) δ 15 N results measured for particulate organic material that did not differ along nearshore to offshore transects throughout the Keys;and (3) discovery that the δ 15 N of particulate organic matter from inshore stations is largely derived from seagrasses and macroalgae, not sewage. Even if sewage pollution makes its way to offshore reefs, the amount supplied must be measured relative to substantial natural nutrient sources due to Gulf Stream flow, tidal flushing (Szmant and Forrester 1996), and upwelling (Leichter, Stewart, and Miller 2003). The Gulf Stream and tidal movements must also be considered a diluting influence relative to potential sewage inputs.…”

Section: Water Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Geological Approaches to Coral Reef Ecology

Aronson¹

2007

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Cover: A coral reef near Discovery Bay on the north coast of Jamaica, photographed at 6 m depth in July 2003. The branching species is staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, and the massive corals belong to the Montastraea annularis species complex. A. cervicornis populations in Jamaica were killed by disease and hurricanes in the early 1980s and began to recover circa 2002. The inset photographs at the top show extraordinarily well-preserved fossil A. cervicornis (left) and Montastraea (right) from the early-to middle-Holocene reef complex in the Enriquillo Valley, Dominican Republic. The fossil corals are part of an 11-m vertical section composed almost entirely of A. cervicornis, which has been radiocarbon-dated to 9400 to 7400 years before present. Geological approaches broaden our understanding of the threats facing modern coral reefs, increasing our predictive power in a rapidly changing world. Photos by William F. Precht (Jamaica) and H. Allen Curran (Dominican Republic); montage design by Ryan M. Moody.

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Water column and sediment nitrogen and phosphorus distribution patterns in the Florida Keys, USA

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

Ecological aspects of black band disease of corals: relationships between disease incidence and environmental factors

Ecological aspects of black band disease of corals: relationships between disease incidence and environmental factors

Significance of groundwater nitrogen discharge into coral reefs at Ishigaki Island, southwest of Japan

Geological Approaches to Coral Reef Ecology

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