Sedimentary Environment Influences Ecosystem Response to Nutrient Enrichment

Sedimentary Environment Influences Ecosystem Response to Nutrient Enrichment As coastal catchment land use intensifies, estuaries receive increased nutrient and sediment loads, resulting in habitats that are dominated by muddy organic-rich sediments. Increased mud (i.e. silt-clay (particles < 63 μm)) content has been associated with negative effects on soft sediment biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, but the simultaneous impact of nutrient enrichment on ecosystem response is unclear. Nutrient recycling and denitrification in estuarine soft sediments represent important ecosystem functions regenerating nutrients for primary producers and regulating the ability to remove excess terrestrially derived nitrogen. To test the effect of sedimentary environment on ecosystem resilience to nutrient perturbation, we experimentally enriched sediments with slow release fertiliser across an intertidal sedimentary gradient (0–24% mud content). The enrichment successfully elevated pore water ammonium concentrations (median 36 × control) to levels representative of enriched estuaries. Findings show that the sedimentary environment can influence ecosystem function response to nutrient stress. In particular, denitrification enzyme activity was suppressed by nutrient enrichment, but the effect was greater as sediment mud content increased. Furthermore, compared with sandy sediments, sediments with high mud content may restrict nutrient processing (release, uptake or transformation of organic nutrients by the benthos) facilitating ecosystem shifts toward eutrophication. These results show the value of investigating the impacts of stressors in different environmental settings and demonstrate that land use practices that increase the proportion of muddy habitats in estuaries may reduce denitrification which in turn may reduce ecosystem resilience to eutrophication. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Estuaries and Coasts Springer Journals

Sedimentary Environment Influences Ecosystem Response to Nutrient Enrichment

Download PDF
15 pages
Read Article

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer_journal/sedimentary-environment-influences-ecosystem-response-to-nutrient-MtSLtwQeNW
Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation
Subject
Environment; Environment, general; Ecology; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Environmental Management; Coastal Sciences; Water and Health
ISSN
1559-2723
eISSN
1559-2731
DOI
10.1007/s12237-018-0416-5
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

As coastal catchment land use intensifies, estuaries receive increased nutrient and sediment loads, resulting in habitats that are dominated by muddy organic-rich sediments. Increased mud (i.e. silt-clay (particles < 63 μm)) content has been associated with negative effects on soft sediment biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, but the simultaneous impact of nutrient enrichment on ecosystem response is unclear. Nutrient recycling and denitrification in estuarine soft sediments represent important ecosystem functions regenerating nutrients for primary producers and regulating the ability to remove excess terrestrially derived nitrogen. To test the effect of sedimentary environment on ecosystem resilience to nutrient perturbation, we experimentally enriched sediments with slow release fertiliser across an intertidal sedimentary gradient (0–24% mud content). The enrichment successfully elevated pore water ammonium concentrations (median 36 × control) to levels representative of enriched estuaries. Findings show that the sedimentary environment can influence ecosystem function response to nutrient stress. In particular, denitrification enzyme activity was suppressed by nutrient enrichment, but the effect was greater as sediment mud content increased. Furthermore, compared with sandy sediments, sediments with high mud content may restrict nutrient processing (release, uptake or transformation of organic nutrients by the benthos) facilitating ecosystem shifts toward eutrophication. These results show the value of investigating the impacts of stressors in different environmental settings and demonstrate that land use practices that increase the proportion of muddy habitats in estuaries may reduce denitrification which in turn may reduce ecosystem resilience to eutrophication.

Journal

Estuaries and Coasts – Springer Journals

Published: Jun 1, 2018

References

  • Animal-sediment relationships revisited: Characterising species’ distributions along an environmental gradient using canonical analysis and quantile regression splines
    Anderson, MJ
  • Inhibition of nitrification by ammonia and nitrous acid
    Anthonisen, AC; Loehr, RC; Prakasam, TBS; Srinath, EG
  • In vitro determination of chlorophyll a and pheophytin a in marine and freshwater algae by fluorescence
    Arar, EJ; Collins, GB
  • Nitrogen cycling in different types of sediments from Danish waters
    Blackburn, TH; Henriksen, K
  • Rates of microbial processes in sediments [and discussion]
    Blackburn, TH; Blackburn, ND; Mortimer, RJG; Coleman, ML; Lovley, DR
  • Have we overemphasized the role of denitrification in aquatic ecosystems? A review of nitrate removal pathways
    Burgin, Amy J.; Hamilton, Stephen K.
  • Rising variance: a leading indicator of ecological transition
    Carpenter, SR; Brock, WA
  • Assessing and managing stressors in a changing marine environment
    Chapman, PM
  • PRIMER v7: User Manual/Tutorial
    Clarke, KR; Gorley, RN
  • Terrigenous deposits in coastal marine habitats: Influences on sediment geochemistry and behaviour of post-settlement bivalves
    Cummings, V; Vopel, K; Thrush, S
  • Collinearity: A review of methods to deal with it and a simulation study evaluating their performance
    Dormann, CF; Elith, J; Bacher, S; Buchmann, C; Gabriel Carré, GC; García Marquéz, JR
  • In situ soft sediment nutrient enrichment: A unified approach to eutrophication field experiments
    Douglas, EJ; Pilditch, CA; Hines, LV; Kraan, C; Thrush, SF
  • Macrofaunal functional diversity provides resilience to nutrient enrichment in coastal sediments
    Douglas, EJ; Pilditch, CA; Kraan, C; Schipper, LA; Lohrer, AM; Thrush, SF
  • Denitrification efficiency for defining critical loads of carbon in shallow coastal ecosystems
    Eyre, BD; Ferguson, AJP
  • Quantity and quality of organic matter (detritus) drives N2 effluxes (net denitrification) across seasons, benthic habitats and estuaries
    Eyre, BD; Maher, DT; Squire, P
  • Combined effects of inorganic nutrients and organic enrichment on intertidal benthic macrofauna: An experimental approach
    Fitch, JE; Crowe, TP
  • Comparison of two methods of measuring the depth of the redox potential discontinuity in intertidal mudflat sediments
    Gerwing, TG; Gerwing, AMA; Drolet, D; Hamilton, DJ; Barbeau, MA
  • Apparent redox potential discontinuity (aRPD) depth as a relative measure of sediment oxygen content and habitat quality
    Gerwing, TG; Gerwing, AMA; Hamilton, DJ; Barbeau, MA
  • The importance of dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) in the nitrogen cycle of coastal ecosystems
    Giblin, AE; Tobias, CR; Song, B; Weston, N; Banta, GT; Rivera-Monroy, VH
  • The influence of macrofaunal burrow spacing and diffusive scaling on sedimentary nitrification and denitrification: An experimental simulation and model approach
    Gilbert, F; Aller, RC; Hulth, S
  • Redox oscillation and benthic nitrogen mineralization within burrowed sediments: An experimental simulation at low frequency
    Gilbert, F; Hulth, S; Grossi, V; Aller, RC
  • Biomass-dependent seagrass resilience to sediment eutrophication
    Gladstone-Gallagher, RV; Hughes, RW; Douglas, EJ; Pilditch, CA
  • Oxygen dynamics of marine sediments
    Glud, RN
  • Spatial variation in rates of benthic denitrification and environmental controls in four New Zealand estuaries
    Gongol, C; Savage, C
  • Standard soil methods for long term ecological research
    Groffman, PM; Holland, EA; Myrold, DD; Robertson, GP; Zou, X
  • Methods for measuring denitrification: Diverse approaches to a difficult problem
    Groffman, PM; Altabet, MA; Böhlke, JK; Butterbach-Bahl, K; David, MB; Firestone, MK; Giblin, AE; Kana, TM; Nielsen, LP; Voytek, MA
  • Multiple stressors, nonlinear effects and the implications of climate change impacts on marine coastal ecosystems
    Hewitt, JE; Ellis, JI; Thrush, SF
  • Hydrodynamical impact on biogeochemical processes in aquatic sediments
    Huettel, M; Roy, H; Precht, E; Ehrenhauss, S
  • Benthic exchange and biogeochemical cycling in permeable sediments
    Huettel, M; Berg, P; Kostka, JE
  • Anaerobic ammonium oxidation by marine and freshwater planctomycete-like bacteria
    Jetten, MSM; Sliekers, O; Kuypers, M; Dalsgaard, T; Niftrik, L; Cirpus, I; Pas-Schoonen, K; Lavik, G; Thamdrup, B; le Paslier, D; op den Camp, HJM; Hulth, S; Nielsen, LP; Abma, W; Third, K; Engström, P; Kuenen, JG; Jørgensen, BB; Canfield, DE; Sinninghe Damsté, JS; Revsbech, NP; Fuerst, J; Weissenbach, J; Wagner, M; Schmidt, I; Schmid, M; Strous, M
  • Sedimentary environment influences the effect of an infaunal suspension feeding bivalve on estuarine ecosystem function
    Jones, HFE; Pilditch, CA; Bruesewitz, DA; Lohrer, AM
  • Effects of infaunal bivalve density and flow speed on clearance rates and near-bed hydrodynamics
    Jones, HFE; Pilditch, CA; Bryan, KR; Hamilton, DP
  • Nitrogen in the marine environment
    Joye, SB; Anderson, IC
  • Density of key-species determines efficiency of macroalgae detritus uptake by intertidal benthic communities
    Karlson, AML; Niemand, C; Savage, C; Pilditch, CA
  • The function of marine critical transition zones and the importance of sediment biodiversity
    Levin, LA; Boesch, DF; Covich, A; Dahm, C; Erseus, C; Ewel, KC; Kneib, RT
  • Terrestrially derived sediment: Response of marine macrobenthic communities to thin terrigenous deposits
    Lohrer, AM; Thrush, SF; Hewitt, JE; Berkenbusch, K; Ahrens, M; Cummings, VJ
  • Ecosystem functioning in a disturbance-recovery context: Contribution of macrofauna to primary production and nutrient release on intertidal sandflats
    Lohrer, AM; Halliday, NJ; Thrush, SF; Hewitt, JE; Rodil, IF
  • Ammonium adsorption in marine sediments
    Mackin, JE; Aller, RC
  • Experimental investigation of the control of bacterial community composition in macrofaunal burrows
    Marinelli, RL; Lovell, CR; Wakeham, SG; Ringelberg, DB; White, DC
  • Variation in the response of intertidal infaunal invertebrates to nutrient additions: Field manipulations at two sites within port Phillip Bay, Australia
    Morris, L; Keough, MJ
  • Context-specific bioturbation mediates changes to ecosystem functioning
    Needham, HR; Pilditch, CA; Lohrer, AM; Thrush, SF
  • Size matters: Implications of the loss of large individuals for ecosystem function
    Norkko, A; Villnas, A; Norkko, J; Valanko, S; Pilditch, C
  • Seafloor ecosystem function relationships: In situ patterns of change across gradients of increasing hypoxic stress
    Norkko, J; Gammal, J; Hewitt, JE; Josefson, AB; Carstensen, J; Norkko, A
  • Nitrogen losses through sediment denitrification in Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay
    Nowicki, BL; Requintina, E; VanKeuren, D; Kelly, JR
  • Interactive effects of porewater nutrient enrichment, bioturbation and sediment characteristics on benthic assemblages in sandy sediments
    O'Brien, AL; Volkenborn, N; Beusekom, J; Morris, L; Keough, MJ
  • Microbiological mediation of spectral reflectance from intertidal cohesive sediments
    Paterson, DM; Wiltshire, KH; Miles, A; Blackburn, J; Davidson, I; Yates, MG; McGrorty, S; Eastwood, JA
  • Long-term studies in ecology: Approaches and alternatives
    Pickett, STA
  • Benthic community responses to nutrient enrichment and predator exclusion: Influence of background nutrient concentrations and interactive effects
    Posey, MH; Alphin, TD; Cahoon, L
  • Changes in ecosystem function across sedimentary gradients in estuaries
    Pratt, DR; Lohrer, AM; Pilditch, CA; Thrush, SF
  • Macrobenthic–mud relations strengthen the foundation for benthic index development: A case study from shallow, temperate New Zealand estuaries
    Robertson, BP; Gardner, JPA; Savage, C
  • Disturbance of sandflats by thin terrigenous sediment deposits: Consequences for primary production and nutrient cycling
    Rodil, IF; Lohrer, AM; Chiaroni, LD; Hewitt, JE; Thrush, SF
  • Response of benthic fauna and changing sediment redox profiles over a hypoxic gradient
    Rosenberg, R; Nilsson, HC; Diaz, RJ
  • Density dependent effects of an infaunal suspension-feeding bivalve (Austrovenus stutchburyi) on sandflat nutrient fluxes and microphytobenthic productivity
    Sandwell, DR; Pilditch, CA; Lohrer, AM
  • Early-warning signals for critical transitions
    Scheffer, M; Bascompte, J; Brock, WA; Brovkin, V; Carpenter, SR; Dakos, V; Held, H; Nes, EH; Rietkerk, M; Sugihara, G
  • Denitrification in freshwater and coastal marine ecosystems: Ecological and geochemical significance
    Seitzinger, SP
  • Denitrification measurements in aquatic sediments - a comparison of three methods
    Seitzinger, SP; Nielsen, LP; Caffrey, J; Christensen, PB
  • DENITRIFICATION ACROSS LANDSCAPES AND WATERSCAPES: A SYNTHESIS
    Seitzinger, S.; Harrison, J. A.; Böhlke, J. K.; Bouwman, A. F.; Lowrance, R.; Peterson, B.; Tobias, C.; Drecht, G. Van
  • Real world biodiversity–ecosystem functioning: A seafloor perspective
    Snelgrove, PVR; Thrush, SF; Wall, DH; Norkko, A
  • Balance between denitrification and microalgal incorporation of nitrogen in microtidal sediments, NE Kattegat
    Sundback, K; Miles, A
  • Nitrogen fluxes, denitrification and the role of microphytobenthos in microtidal shallow-water sediments: An annual study
    Sundback, K; Miles, A; Goransson, E
  • Macrobenthic recovery processes following catastrophic sedimentation on estuarine sandflats
    Thrush, SF; Hewitt, JE; Norkko, A; Cummings, VJ; Funnell, GA
  • Habitat change in estuaries: Predicting broad-scale responses of intertidal macrofauna to sediment mud content
    Thrush, SF; Hewitt, JE; Norkko, A; Nicholls, PE; Funnell, GA; Ellis, JI
  • Muddy waters: Elevating sediment input to coastal and estuarine habitats
    Thrush, SF; Hewitt, JE; Cummings, V; Ellis, JI; Hatton, C; Lohrer, A; Norkko, A
  • Functional role of large organisms in intertidal communities: Community effects and ecosystem function
    Thrush, SF; Hewitt, JE; Gibbs, M; Lundquist, C; Norkko, A
  • Experimenting with ecosystem interaction networks in search of threshold potentials in real world marine ecosystems
    Thrush, SF; JE Hewitt, SP; Lohrer, AM; Pilditch, CA; Woodin, SA; Wethey, DS
  • Changes in the location of biodiversity–ecosystem function hot spots across the seafloor landscape with increasing sediment nutrient loading
    Thrush, SF; Hewitt, JE; Kraan, C; Lohrer, AM; Pilditch, CA; Douglas, E
  • Perspectives on measurement of denitrification in the field including recommended protocols for acetylene based methods
    Tiedje, JM; Simkins, S; Groffman, PM
  • The role of recurrent disturbances for ecosystem multifunctionality
    Villnäs, A; Norkko, J; Hietanen, S; Josefson, AB; Lukkari, K; Norkko, A
  • Intermittent bioirrigation and oxygen dynamics in permeable sediments: An experimental and modeling study of three tellinid bivalves
    Volkenborn, N; Meile, C; Polerecky, L; Pilditch, CA; Norkko, A; Norkko, J; Hewitt, JE; Thrush, SF; Wethey, DS; Woodin, SA
  • Same pattern, different mechanism: Locking onto the role of key species in seafloor ecosystem process
    Woodin, SA; Volkenborn, N; Pilditch, CA; Lohrer, AM; Wethey, DS; Hewitt, JE; Thrush, SF
  • Comparative structure, primary production and biogenic stabilization of cohesive and non-cohesive marine sediments inhabited by microphytobenthos
    Yallop, ML; Winder, B; Paterson, DM; Stal, LJ
  • The link between microbial diversity and nitrogen cycling in marine sediments is modulated by macrofaunal bioturbation
    Yazdani Foshtomi, M; Braeckman, U; Derycke, S; Sapp, M; Gansbeke, D; Sabbe, K; Willems, A; Vincx, M; Vanaverbeke, J

You’re reading a free preview. Subscribe to read the entire article.

Try 2 weeks free now

DeepDyve is your
personal research library

It’s your single place to instantly
discover and read the research
that matters to you.

Enjoy affordable access to
over 18 million articles from more than
15,000 peer-reviewed journals.

All for just $49/month

Explore the DeepDyve Library

or browse the journals available

Search

Query the DeepDyve database, plus search all of PubMed and Google Scholar seamlessly

Organize

Save any article or search result from DeepDyve, PubMed, and Google Scholar... all in one place.

Access

Get unlimited, online access to over 18 million full-text articles from more than 15,000 scientific journals.

Your journals are on DeepDyve

Read from thousands of the leading scholarly journals from SpringerNature, Elsevier, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford University Press and more.

All the latest content is available, no embargo periods.

See the journals in your area

DeepDyve

Freelancer

DeepDyve

Pro

Price

FREE

$49/month
$360/year

Save searches from
Google Scholar,
PubMed

Create folders to
organize your research

Export folders, citations

Read DeepDyve articles

Abstract access only

Unlimited access to over
18 million full-text articles

Print

20 pages / month

PDF Discount

20% off

Sign up
for free
Start 14 day
Free Trial