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Ecosystem thresholds with hypoxia

  • EUTROPHICATION IN COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS
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Abstract

Hypoxia is one of the common effects of eutrophication in coastal marine ecosystems and is becoming an increasingly prevalent problem worldwide. The causes of hypoxia are associated with excess nutrient inputs from both point and non-point sources, although the response of coastal marine ecosystems is strongly modulated by physical processes such as stratification and mixing. Changes in climate, particularly temperature, may also affect the susceptibility of coastal marine ecosystems to hypoxia. Hypoxia is a particularly severe disturbance because it causes death of biota and catastrophic changes in the ecosystem. Bottom water oxygen deficiency not only influences the habitat of living resources but also the biogeochemical processes that control nutrient concentrations in the water column. Increased phosphorus fluxes from sediments into overlying waters occur with hypoxia. In addition, reductions in the ability of ecosystems to remove nitrogen through denitrification and anaerobic ammonium oxidation may be related to hypoxia and could lead to acceleration in the rate of eutrophication. Three large coastal marine ecosystems (Chesapeake Bay, Northern Gulf of Mexico, and Danish Straits) all demonstrate thresholds whereby repeated hypoxic events have led to an increase in susceptibility of further hypoxia and accelerated eutrophication. Once hypoxia occurs, reoccurrence is likely and may be difficult to reverse. Therefore, elucidating ecosystem thresholds of hypoxia and linking them to nutrient inputs are necessary for the management of coastal marine ecosystems. Finally, projected increases in warming show an increase in the susceptibility of coastal marine ecosystems to hypoxia such that hypoxia will expand.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GeoBiosphere Science Centre, Department of Geology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, 22362, Lund, Sweden

    Daniel J. Conley

  2. Department of Marine Ecology, National Environmental Research Institute, Aarhus University, P.O. Box 358, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark

    Jacob Carstensen

  3. Instituto Mediterraneo de Estudios Avanzados, CSIC-Univ. Illes Balears, C/Miquel Marques 21, 07190, Esporles, Islas Baleares, Spain

    Raquel Vaquer-Sunyer & Carlos M. Duarte

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  1. Daniel J. Conley
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  2. Jacob Carstensen
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  3. Raquel Vaquer-Sunyer
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  4. Carlos M. Duarte
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Correspondence to Daniel J. Conley.

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Guest editors: J. H. Andersen & D. J. Conley

Eutrophication in Coastal Ecosystems: Selected papers from the Second International Symposium on Research and Management of Eutrophication in Coastal Ecosystems, 20–23 June 2006, Nyborg, Denmark

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Conley, D.J., Carstensen, J., Vaquer-Sunyer, R. et al. Ecosystem thresholds with hypoxia. Hydrobiologia 629, 21–29 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-009-9764-2

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