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  • Can export of organic matter from estuaries support zooplankton in nearshore, marine plumes?

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    58518_1.pdf (446.8Kb)
    Author(s)
    Schlacher, Thomas A
    Connolly, Rod M
    Skillington, Anna J
    Gaston, Troy F
    Griffith University Author(s)
    Connolly, Rod M.
    Year published
    2009
    Metadata
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    Abstract
    Marine and terrestrial ecosystems are connected via transfers of nutrients and organic matter in river discharges. In coastal seas, such freshwater outflows create prominent turbidity plumes. These plumes are areas of high biological activity in the pelagos, of which zooplankton is a key element. Conceptually, the increased biomass of zooplankton consumers in plumes can be supported by two alternative trophic pathways-consumption of fresh marine phytoplankton production stimulated by riverine nutrients, or direct trophic subsidies through the uptake of terrestrial and estuarine organic matter flushed to sea. The relative ...
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    Marine and terrestrial ecosystems are connected via transfers of nutrients and organic matter in river discharges. In coastal seas, such freshwater outflows create prominent turbidity plumes. These plumes are areas of high biological activity in the pelagos, of which zooplankton is a key element. Conceptually, the increased biomass of zooplankton consumers in plumes can be supported by two alternative trophic pathways-consumption of fresh marine phytoplankton production stimulated by riverine nutrients, or direct trophic subsidies through the uptake of terrestrial and estuarine organic matter flushed to sea. The relative importance of these two pathways has not been established previously. Isotopic tracing (carbon and nitrogen) was used to measure the extent of incorporation of marine versus terrestrial matter into mesozooplankton consumers in the plumes off a small estuary in eastern Australia. Replicate zooplankton samples were taken during baseflow conditions with minimal freshwater influence to the sea, and during pulsed discharge events that generated turbidity plumes in coastal waters. Food sources utilized by zooplankton differed among locations and with the strength of freshwater flow. Terrestrial and estuarine carbon only made a sizeable contribution (47%) to the carbon demands of zooplankton in the lower estuary during pulsed freshwater flows. By contrast, in plumes that developed in nearshore marine waters, phytoplankton supplied up to 90% of the dietary carbon of zooplankton feeding in the plumes. Overall, it was "fresh" carbon, fixed by marine phytoplankton, the growth of which became stimulated by fluvial nutrient exports, that dominated energy flows in plume regions. The trophic role of terrestrial and estuarine organic exports was comparatively minor. The trophic dynamics of plankton in small coastal plumes is closely linked to variations in freshwater flow, but this coupling operates mainly through the enhancement of in-situ phytoplankton production rather than cross-boundary transfers of organic matter to marine food webs in the pelagos.
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    Journal Title
    Aquatic Ecology
    Volume
    43
    Issue
    2
    DOI
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-008-9196-5
    Copyright Statement
    © 2009 Springer Netherlands. This is the author-manuscript version of this paper. Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com
    Subject
    Ecology
    Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology)
    Publication URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10072/29333
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    • Journal articles

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