Premium
Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes of primary producers in coral reef ecosystems
Author(s) -
Yamamuro Masumi,
Kayanne Hajime,
Minagawao Masao
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1995.40.3.0617
Subject(s) - coral reef , coral , environmental issues with coral reefs , reef , environmental science , zooplankton , macrophyte , aquaculture of coral , benthic zone , resilience of coral reefs , oceanography , δ15n , ecosystem , coral reef organizations , ecology , coral reef protection , biology , δ13c , stable isotope ratio , geology , physics , quantum mechanics
To examine the importance of new primary production and nitrogen fixation in coral reef ecosystems, we compared δ 13 C and δ 15 N values of various organic materials (coral tissues, macrophytes, particulate organic materials, and zooplankton) from Palau (7°N) and Ishigaki (24°30′N) coral reefs in the western Pacific Ocean. The δ 15 N (4–6‰) abundance of coral tissues suggests that zooplankton was not the main source of N for these corals. Low δ 15 N values of other benthic primary producers (2–6‰) indicate that their nitrogen originates from nitrogen fixation. These values and the high δ 13 C (−6 to −9‰) of macrophytes sampled at the landward part of both coral reefs lead us to conclude that coral reef ecosystems are sinks of CO 2 because of primary production accompanied by uptake of new nitrogen.