Macroalgae reveal nitrogen enrichment and elevated N:P ratios on the Belize Barrier Reef

Diversity of sponges (Porifera) from cryptic habitats on the Belize barrier reef near Carrie Bow Cay.

The Caribbean barrier reef near Carrie Bow Cay, Belize, has been a focus of Smithsonian Institution (Washington) reef and mangrove investigations since the early 1970s. Systematics and biology of sponges (Porifera) were addressed by several researchers but none of the studies dealt with cryptic habitats, such as the shaded undersides of coral rubble, reef crevices, and caves, although a high sp...

Coral preference of the polychaete Spirobranchus giganteus in the Belize Barrier Reef

The effect of nutrient enrichment on the growth, nucleic acid concentrations, and elemental stoichiometry of coral reef macroalgae

The growth rate hypothesis (GRH) links growth rates with organism elemental stoichiometry. Support for the GRH was found for many animal species, but less so for plants. This is the first study to test the GRH in macroalgae. Tropical coral reef macroalgae from three lineages, Caulerpa serrulata (Chlorophyta), Laurencia intricata (Rhodophyta), and Sargassum polyphyllum (Phaeophyceae) were grown ...

Phosphorus-rich waters at Glovers Reef, Belize?

Coral reefs worldwide are experiencing increasing anthropogenic impacts on local, regional and global scales. Two major human impacts––nutrient enrichment and overfishing––were recently assessed by McClanahan et al. (2002) at Glovers Reef, an atoll offshore the Belize Barrier Reef in the western Caribbean Sea. The most significant finding from this experimental study was the dramatic effect of ...

Nitrogen- versus phosphorus-limited growth and sources of nutrients for coral reef macroalgae

Recent investigations of nutrient-limited productivity in coral reef macroalgae have led to the conclusion that phosphorus, rather than nitrogen, is the primary limiting nutrient. In this study, comparison of the dissolved inorganic nitrogen:phosphorus ratio in the water column of Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, with tissue nitrogen:phosphorus ratios in macroalgae from Kaneohe Bay suggested that nitrogen,...