Meeting Abstract
Quantifying the linkages between individual organisms, communities, and ecosystem function is of fundamental importance for ecology. In shallow water marine systems, biogeochemical fluxes at the sediment-water interface are an especially important component of ecosystem function. We seek to link oxygen fluxes to community composition in the northern Gulf of Mexico while simultaneously examining the effects of oil exposure on community structure and function. Sediment metabolism was measured in vegetated and unvegetated shallow subtidal habitats in Tampa Bay and in the Chandeleur Islands. The Chandeleurs are a chain of uninhabited barrier islands that experienced variable oiling during the Deepwater Horizon spill; Tampa Bay, in contrast, experienced minimal oiling. Measurements were made in 6-inch cores, which were subsequently sieved for infauna. Emerging patterns suggest that oxygen uptake by sediments is generally higher in seagrass habitats than unvegetated ones, an effect which persists even when aboveground seagrass biomass is removed. Substantial variability exists among sites, however, and may well be explained by the community composition within cores and/or by the history of oiling from the Deepwater Horizon spill at each site. Together, these data will provide further insight into linkages between communities and ecosystem function in benthic habitats, while also providing a baseline for understanding how ecosystems are affected by anthropogenic events such as oil spills.
