Variability of Dissolved Organic Carbon in Sediments of a Seagrass Bed and an Unvegetated Area within an Estuary in Southern Texas

Abstract

Pore-water dissolved organic carbon (PWDOC) concentrations were examined in vegetated and bare sediments of aHalodule wrightii seagrass bed, and in a mud bottom sediment of a southern Texas estuary. Temporal variability was examined at diel (dawn and noon) and bimonthly time scales. Distribution patterns of PWDOC were compared with physical, chemical, and biological factors thought to exert control on PWDOC. Concentration of PWDOC, bacterial production, and resultant PWDOC turnover times displayed statistically significant spatial and temporal variability. Concentration of PWDOC ranged from 14 mg C 1−1 to 107 mg C 1−1 of pore water, or 9–71 μg C cm−3 wet sediment. PWDOC was more variable and was approximately 5 times higher than DOC concentrations in the water column. Low PWDOC concentrations (mean = 14.6 μg C cm−3) and high bacterial production rates (mean = 1.92 μg C cm−3 h−1) were observed at the mud station, whereas PWDOC concentrations were high (mean = 24.6 μg C cm−3) and bacterial production rates were low (mean = 0.43 μg C cm−3 h−1) at the bare station. PWDOC turnover times (Tt), assuming 50% bacterial growth efficiency (1–840 h) were shortest at the mud station (mean=13 h) and longest at the bare station (mean=180 h). In the overlying water column, Tt values were longer, ranging from 1,000–10,000 h. PWDOC concentrations were 25% higher in vegetated sediments than in neighboring bare sediments. This difference was probably due to inputs of labile photosynthetic excretia, since bacterial production rates in vegetated sediments displayed significant diel variability and were 4 times greater than that of bare sediments. Based upon the entire data set, PWDOC was significantly related to macrofaunal biomass, sediment POC, sediment C:N ratios, and oxygen metabolism, but was significantly correlated only to the latter two variables in stepwise multiple regression. Our findings suggest that organism activities and detrital quality are the major determinants controlling variability in PWDOC.