Marine nutrient subsidies promote biogeochemical hotspots in undisturbed, highly humic estuaries

Evans, Chris D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7052-354X; Felgate, Stacey L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9955-4948; Carter, Steffi; Stinchcombe, Mark; Mawji, Edward; Rees, Andrew P.; Lebron, Inma ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8610-9717; Sanders, Richard; Brickle, Paul; Mayor, Daniel J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1295-0041. 2023 Marine nutrient subsidies promote biogeochemical hotspots in undisturbed, highly humic estuaries. Limnology and Oceanography, 68 (8). 1802-1820. https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.12387

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/lno.12387

Abstract/Summary

The land-ocean dissolved organic carbon (DOC) flux represents a significant term within the global carbon budget, with peatland-dominated regions representing the most intense sources of terrestrial DOC export. As the interface between freshwater and marine systems, estuaries have the potential to act as a filter of the land-ocean carbon flux, removing terrestrially derived DOC, which is present at low concentrations in the oceans, via a combination of physicochemical and biological processes. However, the fate of peat-derived DOC within estuaries remains poorly quantified, partly due to the complicating influences of heterogeneous soils, land-use, point sources, and upstream modification of organic matter. To minimize these modifying factors, we studied DOC and inorganic nutrients in four small, peat-dominated, minimally disturbed, and oligotrophic Falkland Island estuaries. Contrary to expectations, we found limited evidence of physicochemical estuarine DOC removal, and instead observed apparent “hot zones” of biogeochemical activity, where terrestrially-derived silicate mixed with inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus entering the estuaries from the nutrient-rich marine ecosystem. In two estuaries, this coincided with apparent in situ DOC production. We suggest that the observed phenomena of marine nutrient subsidy of estuarine productivity, and flexible utilization of multiple nutrients within the oligotrophic system, may once have been widespread in temperate estuaries. However, this function has been lost in many ecosystems due to catchment eutrophication by agricultural and urban development. We conclude that the estuaries of the Falkland Islands provide a valuable pre-disturbance analogue for natural biogeochemical functioning in temperate estuaries receiving high organic matter inputs.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.12387
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Soils and Land Use (Science Area 2017-)
ISSN:	0024-3590
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:	Open Access paper - full text available via Official URL link.
NORA Subject Terms:	Marine Sciences
Date made live:	12 Jul 2023 10:59 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/535380

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.12387

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

Soils and Land Use (Science Area 2017-)

ISSN:

0024-3590

Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:

Open Access paper - full text available via Official URL link.

NORA Subject Terms:

Marine Sciences