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Thesis
COMPARISON OF NUTRIENT AND LIGHT LIMITATION IN THREE GULF OF MEXICO ESTUARIES
University of West Florida
Master of Science (MS), University of West Florida
2013
Abstract
This study was conducted in three contrasting northeastern Gulf of Mexico estuaries. Bimonthly sampling from January 2011 to November 2011 along with historic data from the National Estuarine Research Reserve System Wide Monitoring Program were used to assess light versus nutrient limitation. The data were applied to the Cloern (1999) model to identify the relative importance of light and nutrients in limiting phytoplankton growth. Nutrient enrichment bioassay experiments were conducted for each of the three systems 5 to 6 times to identify nitrogen and phosphorous limitation of algal growth. Despite different physico-chemical characteristics, the three systems were largely limited by nutrients rather than light with seasonal and episodic exceptions. Nutrient enrichment of coastal ecosystems is a trend of concern due to the detrimental effects associated with this phenomenon. Increased algal biomass, increased frequency of harmful algal blooms, fish and invertebrate mortalities, and quantitative and qualitative habitat loss have all been documented manifestations of this process. While most coastlines are receiving increased nutrient loads, the ecosystem level responses are variable. In order to regulate watershed land use and acceptable nutrient loads, resource managers must be able to predict a system's response to potential changes in input.
Details
- Title
- COMPARISON OF NUTRIENT AND LIGHT LIMITATION IN THREE GULF OF MEXICO ESTUARIES
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Publisher
- University of West Florida
- Format
- text
- Copyright
- http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/
- Identifiers
- 99380090757006600
- Academic Unit
- Biology
- Language
- English
- Awarding Institution
- University of West Florida; Master of Science (MS)
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), University of West Florida