Publication Date:
2022-10-31
Description:
Dataset: Diatom contribution to benthic GPP - Silica and Nitrogen analyses
Description:
We report an assessment for determining the contribution by diatoms to community productivity and respiration within a coastal benthic ecosystem with multiple autotrophs. During summer, cores of open sediment and seagrass habitat were collected from a lagoon within the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Cores were maintained in an outdoor mesocosm. Germanic acid, an inhibitor of diatom cell division, was added to half the cores and quantification of production and respiration was done. Inhibition of diatoms reduced benthic productivity within the seagrass habitat. 71 to 83% of production was attributable to diatoms and this contribution moved the benthic system into net autotrophy. Diatom contribution to production in other habitat-community components was more variable (varied from 0 to 86%). Findings underscore the ecological importance of diatoms as producers in seagrass beds, the role of seagrasses in maintaining productivity, and infer that diatoms may have similar contributions in other aquatic vegetated habitats.
For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/819975
Description:
NSF Division of Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE) OCE-1558957
Keywords:
Ecosystem production
;
Epiphytes
;
Diatoms
;
Microphytobenthos
;
Northern Gulf of Mexico
;
Seagrass bed
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Dataset
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