Relationships between macroalgal biomass and nutrient concentrations in a hypertrophic area of the Venice Lagoon

Abstract

Macroalgae biomass and concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus and chlorophyll a were determined weekly or biweekly in water and sediments, during the spring-summer of 1985 in a hypertrophic area of the lagoon of Venice. Remarkable biomass production (up to 286 g m −2 day −1, wet weight), was interrupted during three periods of anoxia, when macroalgal decomposition (rate: up to 1000 g m −2 day −1) released extraordinary amounts of nutrients. Depending on the macroalgae distribution in the water column, the nutrients released in water varied from 3·3 to 19·1 μg-at litre −1 for total inorganic nitrogen and from 1·8 to 2·7 μg-at litre −1 for reactive phosphorus. Most nutrients, however, accumulated in the surficial sediment (up to 0·640 and to 3·06 mg g −1 for P and N respectively) redoubling the amounts already stored under aerobic conditions, Phytoplankton, systematically below 5 mg m −3 as Chl. a, sharply increased up to 100 mg m −3 only after the release of nutrients in water by anaerobic macroalgal decomposition. During the algal growth periods, the N:P atomic ratio in water decreased to 0·7, suggesting that nitrogen is a growth-limiting factor. This ratio for surficial sediment was between 6·6 and 13·1, similar to that of macroalgae (8·6–12·0).