1. Top-down and bottom-up regulation in a high nutrient-high herbivory coastal ecosystem.
- Author
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Martinetto, Paulina, Teichberg, Mirta, Valiela, Ivan, Montemayor, Diana, and Iribarne, Oscar
- Subjects
EUTROPHICATION ,HERBIVORES ,ALGAE ,NITROGEN - Abstract
The article focuses on the significance of bottom-up and top-down controls on macroalgae blooms in a macrotidal system at the San Antonio Bay in Northern Patagonia, Argentina with high nutrient supply and high consumer abundance. Among several studies on coastal eutrophication, it has been assumed that change in benthic communities and losses of both species and functional diversity were caused by eutrophication. According to the results of the experiments conducted at the San Antonio Bay, nutrients and biological products like photorespiration products and exudates are concentrated during low tide and diluted with high tide. Compensatory feeding by herbivores was suggested by the negative link between the percentage of algae consumed and the nitrogen (N) content in algal tissues.
- Published
- 2011
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