Contact
- Anya Waite
School of Environmental Systems Engineering and UWA Oceans Institute
Despite global threats to coral reefs, factors controlling reef productivity remain poorly understood.
Our work indicates that reefs depend on the surrounding ocean for nutrient supply, and our observations of in situ depletion of phytoplankton over Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia, shows that uptake is proportional to external oceanic chlorophyll concentrations and that the reef derives its nutrition from a catchment on the order of 10,000 km2 for the 290 km long reef tract.
Our estimate of uptake of phytoplankton alone represents a nitrogen flux to the reef of 5.34 – 17.0 mmol N m-2 day-1, which is an order of magnitude higher than typical for dissolved nitrogen and confirms that particulate feeding is a missing link in reef nitrogen budgets.
Dependence on oceanic supply has significant implications for predicting and managing the impact on benthic systems of climatically and anthropogenically induced changes to the surrounding ocean, which we suggest may occur at scales much greater than previously imagined.
University information
CRICOS Code: 00126G
