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Article: Effects of nitrogen loading and salt marsh habitate on gross primary production and chlorophyll a in estuaries of Waquoit Bay.
- Article from:
- The Biological Bulletin
- Article date:
- October 1, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Marine Biological Laboratory. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Nixon (1) showed, using comparative data from different systems, that increased nitrogen load to shallow coastal estuaries increased production of phytoplankton. Furthermore, it has been well established that the growth of coastal producers is nitrogen limited (2). In Waquoit Bay, we have a complex of separate estuaries that are subject to different nitrogen loading rates (3). This variation in loading rate provides the opportunity to test, in one system, whether increased nitrogen loads result in increased production.
The range of nitrogen loading to the estuaries extended from a high rate of 8.1 X [10.sup.3] kg N [y.sup.-1] in Childs River to approximately ...