Free Standard AU & NZ Shipping For All Book Orders Over $80!
Register      Login
Marine and Freshwater Research Marine and Freshwater Research Society
Advances in the aquatic sciences
Shopping Cart: ( empty )
You are here: Home > Journals > MF > MF05053
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 57(2)

Effects of Lyngbya majuscula (Cyanophycea) blooms on sediment nutrients and meiofaunal assemblages in seagrass beds in Moreton Bay, Australia

Rosa García A B C and Ron W. Johnstone A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A The Centre for Marine Studies, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia.

B Present address: Ocean Laboratory, School of Engineering and Science, International University of Bremen, Campus Ring 1, 28759 Bremen, Germany.

C Corresponding author. Email: r.novoa@iu-bremen.de

Marine and Freshwater Research 57(2) 155-165 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF05053
Submitted: 26 March 2005  Accepted: 4 January 2006   Published: 16 February 2006

Abstract

Blooms of Lyngbya majuscula have been increasingly recorded in the waters of Moreton Bay, on the south-east coast of Queensland, Australia. The influences of these blooms on sediment infauna and the implications for sediment biogeochemical processes was studied. Sediment samples were taken from Moreton Bay banks during and after the bloom season. The deposition of L. majuscula seems to be responsible for the higher total Kjedahl nitrogen (TKN) concentrations measured during the bloom period. Total organic carbon (TOC) concentrations did not change. Lyngbya majuscula blooms had a marked influence on the meiobenthos. Nematodes, copepods and polychaetes were the most abundant groups of meiofauna, and the bloom produced a decrease in the abundance and a change in the sediment depth distribution of these organisms. The distribution of nematodes, copepods and polychaetes in sediment became shallower. Further, the bloom did not affect the abundance and distribution of polychaetes as strongly as it did copepods and nematodes. The changes observed in the distribution of meiofauna in the sediment during the bloom period indicate that L. majuscula produces oxygen depletion in sediments, and that different fauna seem to be affected to different degrees.

Extra keywords: meiofauna, toxic bloom.


Acknowledgments

This research was sponsored by SEQ Regional Water Quality Management Strategy Office, Brisbane City Council: Lyngbya project. The authors thank Jose Luís Rueda Ruíz from the University of Queensland, Zoology Department, for his invaluable assistance with MDS analysis; Chris Roelfsema from the University of Queensland, Centre for Marine Studies (Marine Botany group) for providing a digitalised map of the study area; Dr John Healy from the University of Queensland, Centre for Marine Studies, for his comments on the manuscript and English revisions, Terence Edwards for his English revisions, and the managers of the Moreton Bay Research Station for logistical support.


References

Alongi, D. M. (1990). The ecology of tropical soft-bottom benthic ecosystems. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review 28, 381–496.
Clesceri L. S., Greenberg A. E., and Trussell R. R. (1998). ‘Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Waste Water.’ 20th edn. (APHA-AWWA-WPCF: Washington, DC.)

Conley, D. J. , and Johnstone, R. W. (1995). Biogeochemistry of N, P and Si in Baltic Sea sediments: response to a simulated deposition of a spring diatom bloom. Marine Ecology Progress Series 122, 265–276.
Connell D., and Miller G. (1998). Moreton Bay catchment: water quality of catchment rivers and water storage. In ‘Moreton Bay and Catchment’. (Eds I. R. Tibbetts, N. J. Hall and W. C. Dennison.) pp. 153–164. (School of Marine Science, The University of Queensland: Brisbane.)

Danovaro, R. , Gambi, C. , Luna, G. M. , and Mirto, S. (2004). Sustainable impact of mussel farming in the Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea): evidence from biochemical, microbial and meiofaunal indicators. Marine Pollution Bulletin 49, 325–333.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | Dennison C., and Abal E. G. (1999). ‘Moreton Bay Study. A Scientific Basis for the Healthy Waterways Campaign.’ (South East Queensland Regional Water Quality Management Strategy: Brisbane.)

Dennison, W. C. , O’Neil, J. M. , Duffy, E. J. , Oliver, P. E. , and Shaw, G. R. (1999). Blooms of the cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscula in coastal waters of Queensland, Australia. Bulletin de l’Institut Océanographique, Monaco 19, 501–506.
Fenchel T., and Finlay B. J. (1995). ‘Ecology and Evolution in Anoxic Worlds.’ (Oxford University Press: Oxford.)

Franz, D. R. , and Friedman, I. (2002). Effects of a macroalgal mat (Ulva lactuca) on estuarine sand flat copepods: an experimental study. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 271, 209–226.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Giere O. (1993). ‘Meiobenthology: The Microscopic Fauna in Aquatic Sediments.’ (Springer Verlag: Berlin.)

Glasby C. J., Hutchings P. A., Fauchald K., Paxton H., Rouse G. W., Russell C. W., and Wilson R. S. (2000). Polychaetes and allies: the southern synthesis. In ‘Fauna of Australia. Vol. 4A: Polychaeta, Myzostomida, Pogonophora, Echiura, Sipuncula.’ (Eds P. L. Beesley, G. J. B. Ross and C. J. Glasby.) (CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne.)

Greenwood, J. G. , Greenwood, J. , and Skilleter, G. A. (2002). Comparison of demersal zooplankton in regions with differing extractive-dredging history, in the subtropical Brisbane River estuary. Plankton Biology and Ecology 49, 17–26.
Healthy Waterways (2002). Lyngbya management strategy. (Environmental Protection Agency: Brisbane.) Available online at: www.epa.qld.gov.au/environmental_management/coast_and_oceans/marine_habitats/lyngbya_management_strategy [verified 23 January 2006].

Higgins R. P., and Thiel H. (1988). ‘Introduction to the Study of Meiofauna.’ (Smithsonian Institution Press: Washington, DC.)

Hurlbert, S. H. (1984). Pseudoreplication and the design of ecological field experiment. Ecological Monograph 54(2), 187–211.
Huys R., Gee J. M., Moore C. G., and Hamond R. (1996). ‘Marine and Barckish Water Harpacticoid Copepods.’ (The Linnean Society of London and The Estuarine and Brackish-Water Science Association: Shrewsbury.)

Johnson P. R., and Neil D. T. (1998). The corals of Moreton Bay: living with extremes. In ‘Moreton Bay and Catchment’. (Eds I. R. Tibbetts, N. J. Hall and W. C. Dennison.) pp. 503–524. (School of Marine Sciences, The University of Queensland: Brisbane.)

Kennedy, A. D. , and Jacoby, C. A. (1999). Biological indicators of marine environmental health: meiofauna – a neglected benthic component? Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 54, 47–68.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Tibbetts I. R., Hall N. J., and Dennison W. C. (1998). ‘Moreton Bay and Catchment.’ (School of Marine Science, The University of Queensland: Brisbane.)

Tsutsumi, H. (1990). Population persistence of Capitella sp. (Polychaeta; Capitellidae) on a mud flat subject to environmental disturbance by organic enrichment. Marine Ecology Progress Series 63, 147–156.


Vopel, K. , and Arlt, G. (1995). The fauna of floating cyanobacterial mats in the oligohaline eulittoral zone off Hiddensee (South-west coast of the Baltic Sea). Marine Ecology 16, 217–231.


Warwick, R. M. (1993). Environmental impact studies on marine communities: pragmatical considerations. Australian Journal of Ecology 18, 63–80.


Widbom, B. , and Elmgren, R. (1988). Response of the benthic meiofauna to nutrient enrichment of experimental marine ecosystems. Marine Ecology Progress Series 42, 257–268.