Biogeochemical variability and trophic status of reef water column following a coral bleaching event
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Biogeochemical variability and trophic status of reef water column following a coral bleaching event Veronica Z. Radice1,2,4
•
Brian Fry3 • Sophie G. Dove1,2 • Ove Hoegh-Guldberg1,2
Received: 9 April 2020 / Accepted: 19 October 2020 Ó Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Although resource availability is important for coral reef nutrient cycling and trophic ecology, it is poorly understood how particulate resources may change following an oceanic heat stress event. Here, carbon and nitrogen concentrations and stable isotope values (d13C and d15N) of particulate organic matter (POM; 10 and 30 m) were compared from before and after the 2016 mass coral bleaching event in the Maldives, Indian Ocean. To characterize the trophic status of the post-bleaching water column, dissolved inorganic nutrients across shallow to mesophotic coral reefs (10–50 m) and plankton d13C and d15N were measured. Eight months after the mass bleaching, an oligotrophic water column with decreased particulate organic nitrogen and variable yet increased mean d13C of POM was observed. Elemental and isotopic data of particulate resources from pre- and post-bleaching revealed three oceanographic regimes related to ocean mixing. This study highlights the importance of characterizing water Topic Editor Stuart Sandin
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-020-02021-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. & Veronica Z. Radice [email protected] 1
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, Australia
2
School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, Australia
3
Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia
4
Present Address: Department of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA
column biogeochemistry to understand nutrient cycling in coral reef ecosystems especially post-disturbance. Keywords Biogeochemistry Coral reef Coral bleaching Mesophotic Nutrients Particulate organic matter Stable isotopes
Introduction The dynamic nature of nutrient availability is integral to understanding coral reef ecology. Regional and reef scale processes influence dissolved nutrient availability while the coastal environment and marine productivity comprise primary drivers of particulate availability across reefs (Wyatt et al. 2013; Lowe and Falter 2015). Particulate resource availability is a critical component of fish productivity (Morais and Bellwood 2019), and marine primary production is a driver of heterotrophic feeding patterns in corals (Fox et al. 2018). For example, particulate feeding by some corals can positively affect coral growth parameters (Fabricius 2005) and help to meet the daily energy requirements under normal and anomalous ocean temperatures that cause coral bleaching (Grottoli et al. 2006; Houlbre`que and Ferrier-Page`s 2009). Therefore, changes
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