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ECOSYSTEM LEVEL EXPERIMENT ON NUTRIENT LIMITATION IN TEMPERATE COASTAL MARINE ENVIRONMENTS
Citation:
Oviatt, C., P. Doering, B. Nowicki, L. Reed, J. Cole, AND J. Frithsen. ECOSYSTEM LEVEL EXPERIMENT ON NUTRIENT LIMITATION IN TEMPERATE COASTAL MARINE ENVIRONMENTS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-95/230, 1995.
Description:
Which nutrients limit primary production in coastal marine environments? Using large (13 000 1) mesocosms with sediments we explored nutrient limitation in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, USA, over a 9 wk period. eparate and combined additions of phosphorus and nitrogen were made to the enclosures. hytoplankton biomass, daytime whole system oxygen production and nighttime whole system respiration showed an approximately 5-fold increase in nitrogen and nitrogen + phosphorus treatments, whereas phosphorus treatments had somewhat lower phytoplankton biomass and metabolism than controls. n these whole system experiments nitrogen was the nutrient most limiting to primary production.