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Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open
Journal article
Coral skeletons reveal the history of nitrogen cycling in the coastal Great Barrier Reef
Nature Communications, Vol.11(1), pp.1500-1500
2020
PMCID: PMC7083840
PMID: 32198372
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Source: InCites
Abstract
Anthropogenic nutrient discharge to coastal marine environments is commonly associated with excessive algal growth and ecosystem degradation. However in the world's largest coral reef ecosystem, the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), the response to enhanced terrestrial nutrient inputs since European settlement in the 1850's remains unclear. Here we use a 333 year old composite record (1680-2012) of
N/
N in coral skeleton-bound organic matter to understand how nitrogen cycling in the coastal GBR has responded to increased anthropogenic nutrient inputs. Our major robust finding is that the coral record shows a long-term decline in skeletal
N/
N towards the present. We argue that this decline is evidence for increased coastal nitrogen fixation rather than a direct reflection of anthropogenic nitrogen inputs. Reducing phosphorus discharge and availability would short-circuit the nitrogen fixation feedback loop and help avoid future acute and chronic eutrophication in the coastal GBR.
Details
- Title
- Coral skeletons reveal the history of nitrogen cycling in the coastal Great Barrier Reef
- Creators
- Dirk V Erler - Southern Cross UniversityHanieh Tohidi Farid - Southern Cross UniversityThomas D Glaze - Southern Cross UniversityNatasha L Carlson-Perret - Southern Cross UniversityJanice M Lough - Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, QLD, 4810, Australia
- Publication Details
- Nature Communications, Vol.11(1), pp.1500-1500
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group; England
- Identifiers
- 991012925403502368
- Copyright
- Open Access: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; School of Environment, Science and Engineering; Centre for Coastal Biogeochemistry; Science; National Centre for Flood Research; Southern Cross Plant Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article