Nutrient enrichment and trophic organisation in an estuarine food web

Abstract

Abstract This paper reviews several long-term (30 years) data sets relevant to eutrophication in the Ythan estuary, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. These data sets are land-use in the catchment, nutrients in the river and estuary, macro-algal cover and biomass, mudflat invertebrate abundance and shorebird counts and distributions. The links between the observed patterns of change in these parameters are explored and the evidence for causal relationships assessed, especially in relation to experimental tests of potentially competing hypotheses. A likely scenario is proposed involving shifts in agriculture towards more nitrogen-demanding crops and a higher rate of application of nitrogen to the land; a consequent increase in nitrogen levels in the river and the estuary associated with an increase in the biomass and distribution of macro-algal mats; reductions in invertebrate densities (especially Corophium volutator ) in the worst-affected areas of the estuary and increases in abundance in the upper reaches; an initial increase in the shorebird populations followed by a decline and a shift in shorebird distributions towards areas less affected by macro-algal mats. Important ecological processes for which data are limited or our understanding is poor are identified and the need for rigorous testing of hypotheses is highlighted.