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Water column oxygen demand and sediment oxygen flux: patterns of oxygen depletion in tidal creeks

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Abstract

Low dissolved oxygen (DO) levels often occur during summer in tidal creeks along the southeastern coast of the USA. We analyzed rates of oxygen loss as water-column biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) and sediment oxygen flux (SOF) at selected tidal creek sites monthly over a 1-year period. Ancillary physical, chemical and biological data were collected to identify factors related to oxygen loss. BOD5 rates ranged from 0.0 mg l−1 to 7.6 mg l−1 and were correlated positively with organic suspended solids, total suspended solids, chlorophyll a concentrations, temperature, and dissolved oxygen, and negatively with pH and nitrate + nitrite. SOF rates ranged from 0.0 to 9.3 g O2 m−2 d−1, and were positively correlated with temperature, chlorophyll a, and total suspended solids, but negatively with dissolved oxygen. Both forms of oxygen uptake were seasonally dependent, with BOD5 elevated in spring and summer and SOF elevated in summer and fall. Average oxygen loss to sediments was greater and more variable than oxygen loss in the water column. Oxygen deficits at three of five locations were significantly related to BOD5 and SOF, but not at two sites where ground water discharges were observed. Correlation and principal component analyses suggested that BOD5 and SOF responded to somewhat different suites of environmental variables. BOD5 was driven by a set of parameters linked to warm season storm water inputs that stimulated organic seston loads, especially chlorophyll a, while SOF behaved less strongly so. Runoff processes that increase loads of organic material and nutrients and ground water discharges low in dissolved oxygen contribute to occurrences of low dissolved oxygen in tidal creeks.

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Acknowledgements

Funding for this project came from the Glaxo Wellcome Fellowship in Oceans and Human Health, a Bryden grant from the North Carolina Academy of Science, the UNCW Center for Marine Science, the Department of Biological Sciences, the Graduate School at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and the New Hanover County Tidal Creeks Program. We thank Dr. Lynn Leonard for laboratory guidance, Dr. Dargan Frierson for assistance with statistical analysis, Dr. and Mrs. Paul Hosier and Mr. and Mrs. Davie for allowing access to sampling sites through their property, and Alex Croft, Virginia Johnson, Scott Ensign, Dawn Carroll York, Gina Root, Doug Parsons, Heather CoVan Wells and Bryan Bishop for assistance in the field and laboratory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Water Quality: Aquifer Protection Section, NC Department of the Environment and Natural Resources, 127 Cardinal Drive Extension, Wilmington, NC, 28405, USA

    Tara A. MacPherson

  2. Department of Biology and Marine Biology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 South College Road, Wilmington, NC, 28403, USA

    Lawrence B. Cahoon

  3. Center for Marine Science, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 5600 Marvin K. Moss Lane, Wilmington, NC, 28409, USA

    Michael A. Mallin

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  1. Tara A. MacPherson
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  2. Lawrence B. Cahoon
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  3. Michael A. Mallin
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Correspondence to Lawrence B. Cahoon.

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MacPherson, T.A., Cahoon, L.B. & Mallin, M.A. Water column oxygen demand and sediment oxygen flux: patterns of oxygen depletion in tidal creeks. Hydrobiologia 586, 235–248 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-007-0643-4

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