Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
1985
Department
Oceanography
Abstract
Measurements of benthic oxygen production and consumption at 3 stations over an annual cycle in a shallow (mean depth = 0.7 m) coastal lagoon on the Rhode Island (USA) coast provide evidence that shallow benthic communities may consume more organic matter than can be provided by impressive rates of in situ epifloral production. While sandy sediment areas in Potter Pond lagoon showed a net daytime production of about 140 g C m-2 yr-l, the more extensive areas of fine-grained sediment did not show any significant amount of net benthic daytime production annually. Moreover when nighttime respiratory costs were included, the lagoon benthos as a whole showed a net organic consumption of 30 g C m-2 yr-l in spite of a net annual daytime production rate of 50 g C m-2 yr-l. Rates of in situ oxygen uptake by fine-grained lagoon sediments in the dark were not separable from those of similar sediments in much deeper (mean = 8.6 m) Narragansett Bay. For the lagoon as a whole, the benthos consumed about 40 to 50% of the combined primary production by phytoplankton, macrophytes and benthic epiflora. This partitioning is similar to that found in deeper, plankton-based systems with completely heterotrophic bottom communities.
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Nowicki, B. L., & Nixon, S. W. (1985). Benthic community metabolism in a coastal lagoon ecosystem. Marine Ecology - Progress Series, 22, 21-30. doi: 10.3354/meps022021
Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.3354/meps022021
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