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Whole-system metabolism and CO2 fluxes in a Mediterranean Bay dominated by seagrass beds (Palma Bay, NW Mediterranean)
1Unité d’Océanographie Chimique (B5), MARE, U. Liège, B-4000 Sart Tilman, Belgium
2Lab. d’Océanographie, CNRS Paris 6, B.P. 28, F-06234 Villefranche-sur-mer Cedex, France
3IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Grupo de Oceanografia Interdisciplinar, Inst. Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, C/Miquel Marqués 21, 07190 Esporles (Islas Baleares), Spain
4Dépt. Sc. Biologiques, U. Québec à Montréal, 8888, Centre-Ville, Montréal, H3C3P8, Canada
5present address: Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, ESCET, Univ. Rey Juan Carlos, C/Tulipán s/n, Móstoles 28933, Madrid, Spain
6present address: CLS Space Oceanography Division, Parc technologique du Canal, 8-10 Rue Hermès, 31526 Ramonville Cedex, France
Abstract. The relationship between whole-system metabolism estimates based on planktonic and benthic incubations (bare sediments and seagrass, Posidonia oceanica meadows), and CO2 fluxes across the air-sea interface were examined in the Bay of Palma (Mallorca, Spain) during two cruises in March and June 2002. Moreover, planktonic and benthic incubations were performed at monthly intervals from March 2001 to October 2002 in a seagrass vegetated area of the bay. From the annual study, results showed a contrast between the planktonic compartment, which was heterotrophic during most of the year, except for occasional bloom episodes, and the benthic compartment, which was slightly autotrophic. Whereas the seagrass community was autotrophic, the excess organic carbon production therein could only balance the excess respiration of the planktonic compartment in shallow waters (<10 m) relative to the maximum depth of the bay (55 m). This generated a horizontal gradient from autotrophic or balanced communities in the shallow, seagrass-covered areas of the bay, to strongly heterotrophic communities in deeper areas, consistent with the patterns of CO2 fields and fluxes across the bay observed during the two extensive cruises in 2002. Finally, dissolved inorganic carbon and oxygen budgets provided NEP estimates in fair agreement with those derived from direct metabolic estimates based on incubated samples over the Posidonia oceanica meadow.
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Citation: Gazeau, F., Duarte, C. M., Gattuso, J.-P., Barrón, C., Navarro, N., Ruíz, S., Prairie, Y. T., Calleja, M., Delille, B., Frankignoulle, M., and Borges, A. V.: Whole-system metabolism and CO2 fluxes in a Mediterranean Bay dominated by seagrass beds (Palma Bay, NW Mediterranean), Biogeosciences Discuss., 1, 755-802, 2004. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager
