Spatio-temporal patterns and nutrient status of macroalgae in a heavily managed region of Biscayne Bay, Florida, USA
-
Ligia Collado-Vides
,
Viviana Mazzei
Abstract
The coastal bays of South Florida are located downstream of the Florida Everglades, where a comprehensive restoration plan will strongly impact the hydrology of the region. Submerged aquatic vegetation communities are common components of benthic habitats of Biscayne Bay, and will be directly affected by changes in water quality. This study explores community structure, spatio-temporal dynamics, and tissue nutrient content of macroalgae to detect and describe relationships with water quality. The macroalgal community responded to strong variability in salinity; three distinctive macroalgal assemblages were correlated with salinity as follows: (1) low-salinity, dominated by Chara hornemannii and a mix of filamentous algae; (2) brackish, dominated by Penicillus capitatus, Batophora oerstedii, and Acetabularia schenckii; and (3) marine, dominated by Halimeda incrassata and Anadyomene stellata. Tissue-nutrient content was variable in space and time but tissues at all sites had high nitrogen and N:P values, demonstrating high nitrogen availability and phosphorus limitation in this region. This study clearly shows that distinct macroalgal assemblages are related to specific water quality conditions, and that macroalgal assemblages can be used as community-level indicators within an adaptive management framework to evaluate performance and restoration impacts in Biscayne Bay and other regions where both freshwater and nutrient inputs are modified by water management decisions.
©2011 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Review
- Are there more marine fungi to be described?
- Research Articles
- Salinity and irradiance effects on growth and maximum photosynthetic quantum yield in subarctic Saccharina latissima (Laminariales, Laminariaceae)
- Identifying nitrogen sources for macroalgal growth in variously polluted coastal areas of southern Vietnam
- Spatio-temporal patterns and nutrient status of macroalgae in a heavily managed region of Biscayne Bay, Florida, USA
- Evidence for multiple introductions of the Pacific green alga Ulva australis Areschoug (Ulvales, Chlorophyta) to the Iberian Peninsula
- Lithothamnion carpoklonion sp. nov. (Melobesioideae, Corallinales, Rhodophyta) from Puerto Rico, Caribbean Sea: an epiphytic encrusting coralline alga producing conceptacle protuberances
- Primary production and biomass in a Cymodocea nodosa meadow in the Ghar El Melh lagoon, Tunisia
