title: Nitrogen and phosphorus uptake rates of different species from a coral reef community after a nutrient pulse.
abstract: Terrestrial runoff after heavy rainfall can increase nutrient concentrations in waters overlying coral reefs that otherwise experience low nutrient levels. Field measurements during a runoff event showed a sharp increase in nitrate (75-fold), phosphate (31-fold) and ammonium concentrations (3-fold) in waters overlying a fringing reef at the island of Curaçao (Southern Caribbean). To understand how benthic reef organisms make use of such nutrient pulses, we determined ammonium, nitrate and phosphate uptake rates for one abundant coral species, turf algae, six macroalgal and two benthic cyanobacterial species in a series of laboratory experiments. Nutrient uptake rates differed among benthic functional groups. The filamentous macroalga Cladophora spp., turf algae and the benthic cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscula had the highest uptake rates per unit biomass, whereas the coral Madracis mirabilis had the lowest. Combining nutrient uptake rates with the standing biomass of each functional group on the reef, we estimated that the ammonium and phosphate delivered during runoff events is mostly taken up by turf algae and the two macroalgae Lobophora variegata and Dictyota pulchella. Our results support the often proposed, but rarely tested, assumption that turf algae and opportunistic macroalgae primarily benefit from episodic inputs of nutrients to coral reefs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Aquatic Microbiology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94248, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands.|Department of Biogeochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstraße 1, D-28359 Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Joost
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: den Haan
authors.affiliation: Department of Aquatic Microbiology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94248, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huisman
authors.affiliation: Department of Biogeochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstraße 1, D-28359 Bremen, Germany.|Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Ecology, Fahrenheitstraße 6, D-28359 Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Hannah J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Brocke
authors.affiliation: University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Straße 3, 18059 Rostock, Germany.
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Goehlich
authors.affiliation: Department of Aquatic Microbiology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94248, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Kelly R W
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Latijnhouwers
authors.affiliation: Department of Aquatic Microbiology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94248, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Seth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: van Heeringen
authors.affiliation: Department of Aquatic Microbiology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94248, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Saskia A S
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Honcoop
authors.affiliation: Department of Aquatic Microbiology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94248, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Tanja E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Bleyenberg
authors.affiliation: NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, and Utrecht University, P.O. Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schouten
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Surface Science, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94248, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cerli
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Surface Science, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94248, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Leo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hoitinga
authors.affiliation: Department of Aquatic Microbiology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94248, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands.|CARMABI Foundation, Piscaderabaai z/n, PO Box 2090, Willemstad, Curaçao.
authors.forename: Mark J A
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Vermeij
authors.affiliation: Department of Aquatic Microbiology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94248, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Petra M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Visser
mesh_terms: D000641:Ammonia / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000378:metabolism*; D057894:Coral Reefs; D000073096:Curacao; D005068:Eutrophication; D007700:Kinetics; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D010710:Phosphates / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D012623:Seawater / Q000032:analysis; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D010710:Phosphates; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D010758:Phosphorus; D000641:Ammonia; D009584:Nitrogen