Abstract
Excess nutrients are potential factors that drive phase shifts from seagrasses to macroalgae. We carried out a manipulative field experiment to study the effects of macroalgae Ulva pertusa loading and nutrient addition to the water column on the nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) contents (i.e., fast indicators) as well as on the morphology and structure (i.e., slow indicators) of Zostera marina. Our results showed rapid impact of increased macroalgae and nutrient load on Z. marina C/N ratios. Also, macroalgae addition resulted in a trend of decreasing belowground biomass of seagrasses, and nutrient load significantly decreased above to belowground biomass ratio. Although some morphological/structural variables showed relatively fast responses, the effects of short-term disturbance by macroalgae and nutrients were less often significant than on physiological variables. Monitoring of seagrass physiological indicators may allow for early detection of eutrophication, which may initiate timely management interventions to avert seagrass loss.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 174-182 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Marine Pollution Bulletin |
| Volume | 106 |
| Issue number | 1-2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2016 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
This study was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of China ( 41576117 , 41106099 , 41306108 , 41406128 ), the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (No. 843.10.003 ), the Key Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences ( KZZD-EW-14 ), the Ministry of Science and Technology Project Foundation ( 2014FY210600 ). Anonymous reviewers are sincerely thanked for the comments of the manuscript.
Keywords
- Eutrophication
- Macroalgae suffocation
- Seagrass-macroalgae interactions
- Ulva pertusa
- Zostera marina