Nitrogen cycling and anthropogenic impact in the tropical interamerican seas

Abstract

We discuss the mechanisms leading to nutrient limitation in tropical marine systems, with particular emphasis on nitrogen cycling in Caribbean ecosystems. We then explore how accelerated nutrient cycling from human activities is affecting these systems. Both nitrogen and phosphorus exert substantial influence on biological productivity and structure of tropical marine ecosystems. Offshore planktonic communities are largely nitrogen limited while nearshore ecosystems arc largely phosphorus limited. For phosphorus, the ability of sediment to adsorb and store phosphorus is probably greater for tropical carbonate sediments than for most nearshore sediments in temperate coastal systems. However, the ability of tropical carbonate sediments to take up phosphorus can become saturated as phosphorus loading from human sources increases. The nature of the sediment, the mixing rate between nutrient-laden runoff waters and nutrient-poor oceanic waters and the degree of interaction of these water masses with the sediment will probably control the dynamics of this transition. Nearshore tropical marine ecosystems function differently from their temperate counterparts where coupled nitrification/denitrification serves as an important mechanism for nitrogen depuration. In contrast, nearshore tropical ecosystems are more susceptible to nitrogen loading as depurative capacity of the microbial communities is limited by the fragility of the nitrification link. At the same time, accumulation of organic matter in nearshore carbonate sediments appears to impair their capacity for phosphorus immobilization. In the absence of depurative mechanisms for either phosphorus or nitrogen, limitation for both these nutrients is alleviated and continued nutrient loading fuels the proliferation of nuisance algae. The health of marine ecosystems in the American tropics is finely constrained by nutrient availability within a narrow band separating limitation from excess. More than for temperate marine ecosystems, those of the tropics are often quite limited by nutrient availability and yet enormously vulnerable to the detrimental effects of nutrient excess. We briefly discuss the mechanisms leading to nutrient limitation in tropical systems, with particular emphasis on