The importance of carbon dioxide and dinitrogen fixation for seasonal coral reef metabolism: from organism to ecosystem functioning
Veröffentlichungsdatum
2015-06-18
Autoren
Betreuer
Gutachter
Zusammenfassung
Coral reef functioning is based on fixation and cycling of essential C and N. Here, research into these processes is presented from a northern Red Sea coral reef. Water column photosynthetic primary production was relatively low compared to other seas and lowest in the oligotrophic summer. Water column N2 fixation was stable throughout the year and may have contributed substantially to the N demand of planktonic primary producers during oligotrophic summer. Benthic primary production was dominated by hard and soft corals, while highest benthic N2 fixation was performed by microbial mats, the coral rock reef structure, the carbonate sediment community, and turf algae. The reef community as a whole acted net autotrophic in winter and spring, balanced in summer, and net heterotrophic in fall. Uptake of dissolved organic C via sponges was comparable to reef primary production. This thesis presents new insights into the major C cycles of a coral reef under variable seasonal conditions.
Schlagwörter
coral reef
;
photosynthesis
;
primary production
;
respiration
;
dinitrogen fixation
;
sponge loop
;
corals
;
macroalgae
;
cyanobacteria
;
turf algae
;
sponges
;
trophic food web model
Institution
Fachbereich
Dokumenttyp
Dissertation
Zweitveröffentlichung
Nein
Sprache
Englisch
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Name
00104638-1.pdf
Size
13.81 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum
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