MACROALGAL (FUCUS VESICULOSUS) δ<sup>15</sup>N VALUES TRACE DECREASE IN SEWAGE INFLUENCE

Ecological Applications - Tập 14 Số 2 - Trang 517-526 - 2004
Candida Savage1, Ragnar Elmgren1
1Department of Systems Ecology, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden

Tóm tắt

Nutrient discharges from sewage treatment plants can contribute significantly to coastal and estuarine eutrophication. To counter anthropogenic nitrogen (N) loads in a Baltic Sea coastal embayment, improved (∼85%) N removal was implemented in a tertiary sewage‐treatment plant. This study used nitrogen stable‐isotope ratios (δ15N) in attached brown macroalgae, Fucus vesiculosus, to map the change in the spatial extent of the influence of sewage‐derived N. Elevated N content and δ15N values (δ15N = 8–9‰) suggest that sewage N was still traceable in algal tissues despite enhanced N removal from the effluent. However, the δ15N values decreased significantly with distance and approached background levels within 10–12 km of the outfall. Compared to a survey conducted in 1989, prior to enhanced N removal in the sewage treatment plant, macroalgae were 2.5–6‰ lower in δ15N values within 24 km from the outfall, demonstrating a decline in the importance of sewage‐derived nutrients to macroalgae, particularly in the inner reaches of the bay. Beyond 25 km from the outfall, δ15N values were at background levels (δ15N = 4‰). Two‐source mixing models estimate that the percentage sewage contribution to total algal N uptake in algae near the outfall was ∼40% in 1989 and ∼12% in 1999. Similarly, temporal variation in individual plants estimate that the percentage sewage N contribution to algae within 1 km from the outfall declined from >40% in the mid‐1990s to ∼20% in 2002. Nutrient budget calculations showed that F. vesiculosus is not an effective sink for N, assimilating only ∼3% of total annual N loads entering the bay.

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Ecological Applications

Tập 14 Số 2

517-526

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