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Phosphorus limitation in reef macroalgae of South Florida
- Date Issued:
- 2012
- Summary:
- Nitrogen (N) has traditionally been regarded as the primary limiting nutrient to algal growth in marine coastal waters, but recent studies suggest that phosphorus (P) can be limiting in carbonate-rich environments. To better understand the importance of P. alkaline phosphatase activity (APA) was measured in reef macroalgae in seven counties of south Florida ; several significant trends emerged : 1) APA decreased geographically from the highest values in Dada>Monroe>Palm Beach>St. Lucie>Broward>Martin>Lee counties 2) APA varied temporally with increasing nutrient-rich runoff in the wet season 3) APA varied due to taxonomic division Phaeophyta>Rhodophyta>Chlorophyta 4) Nutrient enrichment experiments demonstrated that increased N-enrichment enhanced P-limitation while increased P decreased P-limitation. These results suggest that high APA observed in carbonate-rich waters of Dade County and low APA in Broward County resulted from high nutrient inputs associated with anthropogenic nutrient pollution.
Title: | Phosphorus limitation in reef macroalgae of South Florida. |
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Name(s): |
Kehler, Courtney. Charles E. Schmidt College of Science Center for Environmental Studies |
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Type of Resource: | text | |
Genre: | Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation | |
Date Issued: | 2012 | |
Publisher: | Florida Atlantic University | |
Physical Form: | electronic | |
Extent: | ix, 56 p. : ill., maps | |
Language(s): | English | |
Summary: | Nitrogen (N) has traditionally been regarded as the primary limiting nutrient to algal growth in marine coastal waters, but recent studies suggest that phosphorus (P) can be limiting in carbonate-rich environments. To better understand the importance of P. alkaline phosphatase activity (APA) was measured in reef macroalgae in seven counties of south Florida ; several significant trends emerged : 1) APA decreased geographically from the highest values in Dada>Monroe>Palm Beach>St. Lucie>Broward>Martin>Lee counties 2) APA varied temporally with increasing nutrient-rich runoff in the wet season 3) APA varied due to taxonomic division Phaeophyta>Rhodophyta>Chlorophyta 4) Nutrient enrichment experiments demonstrated that increased N-enrichment enhanced P-limitation while increased P decreased P-limitation. These results suggest that high APA observed in carbonate-rich waters of Dade County and low APA in Broward County resulted from high nutrient inputs associated with anthropogenic nutrient pollution. | |
Identifier: | 830001293 (oclc), 3358598 (digitool), FADT3358598 (IID), fau:4030 (fedora) | |
Note(s): |
by Courtney Kehler. Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. Includes bibliography. Mode of access: World Wide Web. System requirements: Adobe Reader. |
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Subject(s): |
Nitrogen -- Environmental aspects Coral reef ecology Coral reef biology Marine algae -- Florida -- Physiology Algal communities -- Florida -- Physiology |
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Persistent Link to This Record: | http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3358598 | |
Use and Reproduction: | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ | |
Host Institution: | FAU |