Nutrient thresholds for bottom‐up control of macroalgal blooms on coral reefs in Jamaica and southeast Florida

TLDR

Coral reefs in the Caribbean have shifted from coral dominance to macroalgae and algal turfs over the past two decades. The study tested whether nutrient enrichment drives the macroalgal phase shift on Jamaican and southeast Florida reefs. Researchers measured bottom‑water nutrients, salinity, performed nutrient bioassays, and analyzed tissue elemental and isotopic ratios to assess nutrient control. Both reefs exceeded macroalgal bloom thresholds, with Jamaica limited by phosphorus and Florida by nitrogen, and experimental enrichment confirmed these limitations while DIN sources were linked to groundwater and wastewater.

Abstract

During the past two decades coral reefs in the greater Caribbean area have been altered by phase shifts away from corals and toward macroalgae or algal turfs. This study tested the hypothesis that because the phase shift on reefs in Jamaica and southeast Florida involved frondose macroalgae, bottom‐up control via nutrient enrichment must be a causal factor. The approach was multifaceted and included measurement of near‐bottom nutrient concentrations, salinity, nutrient enrichment bioassays, alkaline phosphatase assays, tissue C : N : P ratios, and tissue 15 N : 14 N ( δ 15 N) ratios. In both locations, concentrations of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) exceeded nutrient thresholds (∼1.0 µ M DIN, 0.1 µ M SRP) noted to sustain macroalgal blooms on Caribbean coral reefs. High seawater DIN : SRP ratios, alkaline phosphatase activity, and tissue C: P and N: P ratios of macroalgae on the carbonate‐rich Jamaican reef suggested SRP limitation of productivity compared to lower values of these variables on siliciclastic reefs in Florida that suggested DIN limitation. This pattern was corroborated experimentally when SRP enrichment increased P max (photosynthetic capacity at light saturation) of the chlorophyte Chaetomorpha linum in Jamaica compared to DIN enrichment that increased a (the photosynthetic efficiency under low irradiance) of the deeper growing chlorophyte Codium isthmocladum in southeast Florida. Increased DIN concentrations were associated with reduced salinity on both reefs, indicating submarine groundwater discharge was a significant source of DIN. Elevated δ 15 N values of C. isthmocladum tissue further pointed to wastewater DIN as a source of nitrogen contributing to the blooms in southeast Florida.