Abstract

Filter-feeders play an important role in regulating nutrient availability in coastal systems, with important implications for phytoplankton community composition, primary production, and food web structure. The role of filter-feeding bivalves in the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles is relatively well established, but their impact on coastal silicon (Si) cycling remains poorly understood. To help reduce this uncertainty, we quantified rates of Si recycling and the size of various Si pools at an oyster (Crassostrea virginica) farm. We found that oysters drive rapid recycling of dissolved Si (DSi) to the water column, primarily by altering rates of sediment Si flux. Sediments beneath oyster aquaculture recycled DSi to the water column at more than twice the rate (2476.06 µmol DSi m-2 h-1) of nearby bare sediments (998.75 µmol DSi m-2 h-1). Oysters consume DSi at a low rate (-0.06 µmol DSi ind.-1 h-1), and, while we were unable to determine the fate of that Si, we hypothesize that at least some of it may be stored in the shell and tissue, which are both small Si pools (0.55 and 0.13% Si by mass respectively). Si held in oysters is removed from the system when oysters are harvested, but this removal is small compared to oyster-mediated enhancements in sediment Si recycling. In a broader context, coastal systems with larger oyster populations are likely to have a more rapid Si cycle, with more Si available to primary producers in the water column than those with no oysters.

Highlights

  • Filter-feeders play an important role in regulating the biogeochemistry, and ecology of aquatic ecosystems (Newell 1988, Li et al 2021)

  • amorphous Si (ASi) concentrations tended to be lower in sediments collected from 3−4 cm depth than surface sediments, and again, we found no difference in ASi concentration at 3−4 cm depth (t = 1.364, df = 18, p = 0.189) between bare sediment (0.40 ± 0.03% ASi) and sediments beneath aquaculture (0.55 ± 0.06% ASi)

  • We found that they enhance rates of Si recycling to the water column through stimulation of sediment dissolved Si (DSi) flux

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Summary

Introduction

Filter-feeders play an important role in regulating the biogeochemistry, and ecology of aquatic ecosystems (Newell 1988, Li et al 2021). When populations of suspensionfeeding oysters were lost, so were the ecosystem services they provided. A large body of research demonstrates enhanced recycling of dissolved N and phosphorus (P) alongside removal of excess N via denitrification in oyster habitats, but the role oysters may play in regulating silicon (Si) cycling in coastal ecosystems has largely gone unexplored (Dame 2012, Ray & Fulweiler 2021). The role oysters and other suspension-feeders play in coastal Si cycling may have both local and far-reaching effects

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