Biological Oceanography of the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia: A review
Author(s)
Rothlisberg, Peter C.
Burford, Michele
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2016
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The Gulf of Carpentaria is a pristine, shallow, epicontinental sea in tropical Australia. The Gulf is highly seasonal with shifts in monsoonal winds and rainfall patterns which affect: current and mixing regimes; phytoplankton productivity; and reproductive seasonality and recruitment of coastal marine species (e.g. penaeid prawns). Phytoplankton productivity is high and dominated by nanoplankton. Trichodesmium and diatoms with nitrogen-fixing symbionts dominate the net phytoplankton. Nitrogen inputs from nitrogen fixers are an important nutrient input to deeper waters whilst the shallow waters are seasonally influenced by ...
View more >The Gulf of Carpentaria is a pristine, shallow, epicontinental sea in tropical Australia. The Gulf is highly seasonal with shifts in monsoonal winds and rainfall patterns which affect: current and mixing regimes; phytoplankton productivity; and reproductive seasonality and recruitment of coastal marine species (e.g. penaeid prawns). Phytoplankton productivity is high and dominated by nanoplankton. Trichodesmium and diatoms with nitrogen-fixing symbionts dominate the net phytoplankton. Nitrogen inputs from nitrogen fixers are an important nutrient input to deeper waters whilst the shallow waters are seasonally influenced by nutrients from freshwater runoff. The Gulf’s zooplankton community is biodiverse with relatively high biomasses and inferred productivity. With only limited water exchange, it shares species with adjacent seas to both the east and west. Recruitment of penaeid prawn postlarvae to nearshore and estuarine nursery grounds is controlled by the interaction between ontogenetic changes in larval and postlarval behaviour and both alongshore and tidal currents. This mechanism is controlled by a conservative environmental cue (i.e. pressure), and thereby provides a mechanism across a wide range of coastal habitats and current regimes. These pioneering studies have laid the foundation for future studies including the impact of climate changes, and coastal and catchment development pressures.
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View more >The Gulf of Carpentaria is a pristine, shallow, epicontinental sea in tropical Australia. The Gulf is highly seasonal with shifts in monsoonal winds and rainfall patterns which affect: current and mixing regimes; phytoplankton productivity; and reproductive seasonality and recruitment of coastal marine species (e.g. penaeid prawns). Phytoplankton productivity is high and dominated by nanoplankton. Trichodesmium and diatoms with nitrogen-fixing symbionts dominate the net phytoplankton. Nitrogen inputs from nitrogen fixers are an important nutrient input to deeper waters whilst the shallow waters are seasonally influenced by nutrients from freshwater runoff. The Gulf’s zooplankton community is biodiverse with relatively high biomasses and inferred productivity. With only limited water exchange, it shares species with adjacent seas to both the east and west. Recruitment of penaeid prawn postlarvae to nearshore and estuarine nursery grounds is controlled by the interaction between ontogenetic changes in larval and postlarval behaviour and both alongshore and tidal currents. This mechanism is controlled by a conservative environmental cue (i.e. pressure), and thereby provides a mechanism across a wide range of coastal habitats and current regimes. These pioneering studies have laid the foundation for future studies including the impact of climate changes, and coastal and catchment development pressures.
View less >
Book Title
Aquatic Microbial Ecology and Biogeochemistry: A Dual Perspective
Subject
Ecosystem function