Nutrient dynamics in the Sylt-Rømø Bight ecosystem, German Wadden Sea: An ecological network analysis approach

Abstract

Carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus flow networks, consisting of 59 compartments, were constructed for the Sylt-Rømø Bight, a large shallow sea in the German Wadden Sea. These networks were analysed using ecological network analysis. Each network depicts the standing stock of each component in the ecosystem, and the flows between them. The trophic efficiency by which material is utilised in the Bight increase from 3%, to 6% to 17% for C, N and P, respectively. The number of cycles though which these elements pass increase from 1 197 for carbon, to 414 744 and 538 800 for nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively. The Finn Cycling Index, reflecting the amount of material recycled as a fraction of the total system activity, TST, increases from 17% for carbon, to 43% for nitrogen, to 81% for phosphorus. Other system level attributes such as the Average Path Length, the Average Internal Mutual Information, Relative Ascendancy, Relative and Normalized Redundancy, show an increase from the carbon to the nitrogen to the phosphorus networks. Phosphorus is tightly cycled over longer pathways than the other two elements, and also has the longest residence time in the Bight. Postulated differences between the behaviour of energy (or carbon) and biogeochemical networks in coastal ecosystems are evident from the results obtained from ecological network analysis.