Sea fan corals provide a stable isotope baseline for assessing sewage pollution in the Mexican Caribbean
Por:
Baker D.M., Jordán-Dahlgren E., Maldonado M.A., Harvell C.D.
Publicada:
1 sep 2010
Resumen:
We compared stable nitrogen isotope (delta(15)N) values from the common Caribbean sea fan Gorgonia ventalina, collected from a developed and undeveloped coastline, to test the hypothesis that sewage-derived nitrogen (N) inputs are detectable and more severe in developed areas along the Mesoamerican barrier reef of Mexico. The Akumal coast was selected as the developed site since this area is inhabited by thousands of local residents and has a significant flux of tourists; it was compared to a relatively undeveloped shoreline south of Mahahual, a small town with a few hundred residents and sewage treatment infrastructure. Gorgonians sampled from Akumal were relatively enriched in delta(15)N (as high as 7.7% nearshore) and were similar to 3.5% greater than sea fans from Mahahual collected at similar depths. While previous work has shown that water column N concentrations are uniform around Akumal, delta(15)N values of sea fans sampled parallel to shore were variable, indicating that sewa
Filiaciones:
Baker D.M.:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States
Carnegie Institution of Washington, Geophysical Laboratory, Washington, DC, United States
Jordán-Dahlgren E.:
Inst Ciencias Mar & Limnol UNAM, Puerto Morelos, Mexico
Maldonado M.A.:
Centro Ecológico Akumal, Akumal, Mexico
Harvell C.D.:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States
Bronze
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