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Phosphorus limitation in reef macroalgae of South Florida

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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
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.
Subject(s): Nitrogen -- Environmental aspects
Coral reef ecology
Coral reef biology
Marine algae -- Florida -- Physiology
Algal communities -- Florida -- Physiology
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3358598
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU