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Feedback Mechanisms Between Cyanobacterial Blooms, Transient Hypoxia, and Benthic Phosphorus Regeneration in Shallow Coastal Environments

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Abstract

We investigated the dissolved oxygen metabolism of the Curonian Lagoon (Baltic Sea) to assess the relative contributions of pelagic and benthic processes to the development of transient hypoxic conditions in shallow water habitats. Metabolism measurements along with the remote sensing-derived estimates of spatial variability in chlorophyll a were used to evaluate the risk of hypoxia at the whole lagoon level. Our data demonstrate that cyanobacterial blooms strongly inhibit light penetration, resulting in net heterotrophic conditions in which pelagic oxygen demand exceeds benthic oxygen demand by an order of magnitude. The combination of bloom conditions and reduced vertical mixing during calm periods resulted in oxygen depletion of bottom waters and greater sediment nutrient release. The peak of reactive P regeneration (nearly 30 μmol m−2 h−1) coincided with oxygen depletion in the water column, and resulted in a marked drop of the inorganic N:P ratio (from >40 to <5, as molar). Our results suggest a strong link between cyanobacterial blooms, pelagic respiration, hypoxia, and P regeneration, which acts as a feedback in sustaining algal blooms through internal nutrient cycling. Meteorological data and satellite-derived maps of chlorophyll a were used to show that nearly 70 % of the lagoon surface (approximately 1,000 km2) is prone to transient hypoxia development when blooms coincide with low wind speed conditions.

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Acknowledgments

Mindaugas Zilius was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship funded by the European Union Structural Funds project “Postdoctoral Fellowship Implementation in Lithuania.” Paul Bukaveckas was supported by a Fulbright Fellowship during his residence at Klaipeda University. MERIS data were made available through the ESA project AO-553 (MELINOS). This study was co-funded by CYAN-IS-WAS (Ministero dell’Istruzione dell’Università e della Ricerca, Science and technological cooperation between Italy and the Kingdom of Sweden) and CLAM-PHYM (Italian Space Agency, contract ASI I/015/11/0) projects. We gratefully thank the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service of the Ministry of Environment for providing meteorological data. We also gratefully thank three anonymous reviewers for valuable comments which improved the quality of the manuscript.

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  1. Coastal Research and Planning Institute, Klaipeda University, 92294, Klaipeda, Lithuania

    Mindaugas Zilius, Marija Katarzyte, Tomas Ruginis, Jolita Petkuviene, Irma Lubiene, Rutger de Wit & Arturas Razinkovas-Baziukas

  2. Department of Environmental Sciences, Parma University, 43100, Parma, Italy

    Marco Bartoli & Mariano Bresciani

  3. Optical Remote Sensing Group, CNR-IREA, Milan, Italy

    Mariano Bresciani & Claudia Giardino

  4. Department of Biology, Center for Environmental Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, 23284, USA

    Paul A. Bukaveckas

  5. Ecologie des Systèmes marins côtiers (Ecosym), UMR 5119, Université Montpellier 2, CNRS, IRD, Ifremer, Université Montpellier 1, Montpellier, France

    Rutger de Wit

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  1. Mindaugas Zilius
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Correspondence to Mindaugas Zilius.

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Zilius, M., Bartoli, M., Bresciani, M. et al. Feedback Mechanisms Between Cyanobacterial Blooms, Transient Hypoxia, and Benthic Phosphorus Regeneration in Shallow Coastal Environments. Estuaries and Coasts 37, 680–694 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-013-9717-x

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