Spatial and tidal variation in food supply to shallow cold-water coral reefs of the Mingulay Reef complex (Outer Hebrides, Scotland)

Stable isotopic signatures (δ13C and δ15N) of suspended particulate organic matter as indicators for fish cage culture pollution in Sansha Bay, China

Suspended particulate matter (SPM)-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in lakes and reservoirs across a large geographical scale

The measurement and analysis of inherent optical properties (IOPs) of the main water constituents are necessary for remote-sensing-based water quality estimation and other ecological studies of lakes. This study aimed to measure and analyze the absorption and backscattering coefficients of the main water constituents and, further, to analyze their relations to the water constituent concentrations in Poyang Lake, China. The concentrations and the absorption and backscattering coefficients of the main water constituents at 47 sampling sites were measured and analyzed as follows. (1) The concentrations of chlorophyll a (C(CHL)), dissolved organic carbon (C(DOC)), suspended particulate matter (C(SPM)), including suspended particulate inorganic matter (C(SPIM)) and suspended particulate organic matter (C(SPOM)), and the absorption coefficients of total particulate (a(p)), phytoplankton (a(ph)), nonpigment particulate (a(d)), and colored/chromophoric dissolved organic matter (a(g)) were measured in the laboratory. (2) The total backscattering coefficients, including the contribution of pure water at six wavelengths of 420, 442, 470, 510, 590, and 700 nm, were measured in the field with a HydroScat-6 backscattering sensor. (3) The backscattering coefficients without the contribution of pure water (b(b)) were then derived by subtracting the backscattering coefficients of pure water from the total backscattering coefficients. (4) The C(CHL), C(SPM), C(SPIM), C(SPOM), and C(DOC) of the 41 remaining water samples were statistically described and their correlations were analyzed. (5) The a(ph), a(d), a(p), a(g), and b(b) were visualized and analyzed, and their relations to C(CHL), C(SPM), C(SPIM), C(SPOM), or C(DOC) were studied. Results showed the following. (1) Poyang Lake was a suspended particulate inorganic matter dominant lake with low phytoplankton concentration. (2) One salient a(ph) absorption peak was found at 678 nm, and it explained 72% of the variation of C(CHL). (3) The a(d) and a(p) exponentially decreased with increasing wavelength, and they explained 74% of the variation of C(SPIM) and 71% variation of C(SPM), respectively, at a wavelength of 440 nm. (4) The a(g) also exponentially decreased with increasing wavelength, and it had no significant correlation to C(DOC) at a significance level of 0.05. (5) The b(b) decreased with increasing wavelength, and it had strong and positive correlations to C(SPM), C(SPIM) and C(SPOM), a strong and negative correlation to C(CHL), and no correlation to C(DOC) at a significance level of 0.05. Such results will be helpful for the understanding of the IOPs of Poyang Lake. They, however, only represented the IOPs during the sampling time period, and more measurements and analyses in different seasons need to be carried out in the future to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the IOPs of Poyang Lake.

Carbon isotopic composition of suspended and sinking particulate organic matter in the northern South China Sea—From production to deposition

Significantly depleted 15N in suspended particulate organic matter indicating a strong influence of sewage loading in Daya Bay, China

Abstract. Cold-water corals form complex three-dimensional structures on the seafloor, providing habitat for numerous species, and act as a carbon cycling hotspot in the deep-sea. The distribution of these important ecosystems is often predicted by statistical habitat suitability models, using variables such as terrain characteristics, temperature, salinity, and surface productivity. While useful, these models do not provide a mechanistic understanding of the processes that facilitate cold-water coral occurrence, and how this may change in the future. Here, we present the results of a mechanistic process-based model in which coral biomass and respiration are predicted based on hydrodynamics, organic matter transport and coral physiology. The model domain comprises the cold-water coral mounds of south-east Rockall Bank in the north-east Atlantic Ocean. Hydrodynamic forcing is provided by a high-resolution Regional Ocean Modelling System (ROMS) model, which drives the transport of reactive suspended particulate organic matter in the region. The physiological cold-water coral model, with coral food uptake, assimilation, and respiration as key variables and with model parameters estimated from available experimental reports, is coupled to the reactive transport model of suspended particulate organic matter. Cold-water coral biomass was mainly predicted on coral mounds and ridges in the area. Model predictions agree with coral reef biomass and respiration observations in the study area and coral occurrences agree with predictions from previously published habitat suitability models. Filter feeding activity by cold-water corals proved to strongly deplete food particles in the bottom waters. Replenishment of food particles by tidal currents was therefore vital for cold-water coral growth. This mechanistic modelling approach has the advantage over statistical and machine learning-based predictions that it can be used to obtain an understanding of the effect of changing environmental conditions such as ocean temperature, surface production export, or ocean currents on cold-water coral biomass distribution and can be applied to other study areas and/or species.

Food supply is widely considered to be a major factor in determining life history traits and reproductive performance of birds. However, large spatial and temporal variation in natural available food supply is not always paralleled by proportional changes in energy demand by breeding birds. This necessarily results in variation in the supply–demand ratio and the amount of food available per unit mass of nestling. Because reproductive performance should respond to increases in available supply as a saturation curve, reaching a plateau above a certain threshold of food supply, we predict that variation in supply should change the intensity of selection on reproductive traits. We first tested this prediction using long-term data on nestling growth and survival in Blue Tits (Parus caeruleus) breeding over a gradient of habitat richness in Corsica, France. This long-term data analysis evaluates the effect of variation in food supply available to breeding tits using three surrogate variables: interannual variation in peak caterpillar abundance (caterpillar frass fall), offset between breeding date and peak caterpillar abundance, and natural variation in clutch size. We also used an experimental brood size manipulation (±3 chicks) to test the effect of varying brood demand on nestling growth. Results of the long-term data analysis show that all three variables affect fledging mass and fledging success in poor habitats, while only fledging mass is affected by variation in offset in rich habitats. Moreover, mean annual fledging success and fledging mass is strongly affected by annual variation in peak caterpillar abundance at low levels of abundance, but these effects disappear when food becomes abundant (saturation threshold level of 373 and 560 mg frass·m−2·d−1 for fledging success and fledging mass, respectively). Brood size manipulations confirm these results. In rich habitats, breeding birds can raise three extra chicks without any apparent effects on chick growth, while in poor habitats, chick growth is significantly reduced with brood enlargement. Our study shows that although food limitation can play an important role, it may not always be the primary force shaping life history traits.

The hypothesis that migratory bird populations are limited during the non-breeding season is increasingly supported by empirical studies that also suggest consequences that carry-over into subsequent seasons. Although variation in food supply is the best supported explanation for non-breeding season limitation, the ecological mechanisms and physiological consequences are not well understood. We both supplemented and reduced Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla) food availability on replicate plots in Jamaica in each of 3 years to determine the direct role of food in limiting the physical condition of Ovenbirds. Annual variation in rainfall and food supply created a natural experiment in parallel with manipulations. Sex and age-classes of Ovenbirds did not respond differently in terms of body condition to either food manipulation or natural variation in environmental conditions, suggesting that this population is not structured by strong dominance relationships. Ovenbird body mass, fat, and pectoralis muscle shape were positively and predictably related to manipulated food availability. Feather regrowth rate also responded positively to food supplementation and negatively to food reduction in the drier of 2 years. Prior to manipulation, annual variation in body mass corresponded to annual variation in food supply and rainfall, providing additional, correlational evidence of food limitation. Since multiple intercorrelated body condition indices of Ovenbirds responded directly to food supply, and since food supply influenced body condition independently of other habitat features, we argue that food is a primary driver of non-breeding season population limitation. Moreover, since these effects were observed during the late non-breeding period, when individuals are preparing to migrate, we infer that food availability likely initiates carry-over effects.

Carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratios of suspended particulate organic matter (SPOM) in the Black Sea water column

Fatty acid and stable isotope (δ 13C, δ 15N) signatures of particulate organic matter in the lower Amazon River: Seasonal contrasts and connectivity between floodplain lakes and the mainstem

Trophodynamics and organic matter assimilation pathways in the northeast Chukchi Sea, Alaska

Carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus (C, N, P) stoichiometry influences the growth of plants and nutrient cycling within ecosystems. Indeed, elemental ratios are used as an index for functional differences between plants and their responses to natural or anthropogenic variations in nutrient supply. We investigated the variation in growth and elemental content of the rootless terrestrial bromeliad Tillandsia landbeckii, which obtains its moisture, and likely its nutrients, from coastal fogs in the Atacama Desert. We assessed (1) how fog nutrient supply influences plant growth and stoichiometry and (2) the response of plant growth and stoichiometry to variations in nutrient supply by using reciprocal transplants. We hypothesized that T. landbeckii should exhibit physiological and biochemical plastic responses commensurate with nutrient supply from atmospheric deposition. In the case of the Atacama Desert, nutrient supply from fog is variable over space and time, which suggests a relatively high variation in the growth and elemental content of atmospheric bromeliads. We found that the nutrient content of T. landbeckii showed high spatio-temporal variability, driven partially by fog nutrient deposition but also by plant growth rates. Reciprocal transplant experiments showed that transplanted individuals converged to similar nutrient content, growth rates, and leaf production of resident plants at each site, reflecting local nutrient availability. Although plant nutrient content did not exactly match the relative supply of N and P, our results suggest that atmospheric nutrient supply is a dominant driver of plant growth and stoichiometry. In fact, our results indicate that N uptake by T. landbeckii plants depends more on N supplied by fog, whereas P uptake is mainly regulated by within-plant nutrient demand for growth. Overall, these findings indicate that variation in fog nutrient supply exerts a strong control over growth and nutrient dynamics of atmospheric plants, which are ubiquitous across fog-dominated ecosystems.

Dynamics and sources of suspended particulate organic matter in the Marennes-Oléron oyster farming bay: Insights from stable isotopes and microalgae ecology

Suspended particulate matter (SPM) has been known as an important variable in the organic matter flow of coastal ecosystem. Half of burial carbon in seagrass meadows is contributed by allochthonous sources that compose the SPM such as phytoplankton, seagrass detritus, marine snow aggregates and terrestrially derived particles. Each composition of the SPM contributes different roles and is important to be identified, for instance, the exact contribution of seagrass detritus will be useful for determination of carbon export through the detritus form in seagrass meadows. Here, the SPM of seagrass meadows is studied in Bintan Island and the Selayar Archipelago. The aim of this research is to determine the source origin of the SPM using a stable isotope signature. In order to fulfill this aim, the objectives are defined as: (1) to specify the stable isotope signature (δ13C and δ15N) of the SPM, and (2) to determine the proportional distribution of the SPM’s prospectus sources. The result shows that the possibility of the source origin of the SPM includes a seagrass fraction (Enhalus acoroides and Thalassia hemprichii), terrestrial C4 plant, macroalgae, and terrestrial C3 plant. The SPM lies between the marine- and terrigenous-end members. However, it seems that the SPM is more to be terrigenous-end and allochthonous. According to a Bayesian mixing model, the terrestrial C4 has the highest contribution of the SPM at all sites except Barugaia and Pasi Island in Selayar (i.e., the highest contribution of the SPM is from the detritus of E. acoroides). The second contribution has been contributed by either seagrass detritus (E. acoroides or Th. hemprichii) or terrestrial C3 plant. The finding of this study indicates that there is a strong influence of the terrigenous sources in the SPM of the seagrass meadows.

Seasonal and spatial distribution of particulate organic matter in the Bay of Bengal