Abstract
Efficient nutrient cycling and adequate sediment bioavailable nutrient supply are considered to be the two most important factors regulating the high productivity and subsequent carbon sequestration by mangrove ecosystems. We assessed spatial variability and the possible regulating factors of sediment bioavailable nutrients (nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P)) and surface water-dissolved nutrients (N, P and silicate (Si)) in the five ecologically important mangrove ecosystems along the east and west coast of India during dry season. Higher bioavailable nitrogen concentrations in the sediments were recorded in Coringa mangroves (36.27 ± 14.7 μg g−1) and Bhitarkanika (18.54 ± 5.9 μg g−1) mangroves in the east coast followed by Karnataka (15.51 ± 8.26 μg g−1), Goa, (10.18 ± 9.96 μg g−1) and Kerala (6.36 ± 5.05 μg g−1) mangroves in the west coast. The dissolved inorganic nutrients in the mangrove waters ranged between 5.1 and 220.9 μmol l−1 for N and 0.07 and 3.9 μmol l−1 for P. These results indicated that terrestrial inputs, in situ remineralization and prevalent anoxic conditions regulated sediment nutrient content in these ecosystems, whereas the higher ammonium in the sediments was attributed to the greater nutrient adsorption by finer particles. The stoichiometry of the bioavailable nutrients (N, P) in the mangrove sediments deviated drastically from the Redfield ratio, and strong P limitation was recorded in most of the ecosystems. The results highlighted the potential role of sediment particle size and physiochemical (salinity and pH) properties in regulating bioavailable nutrient dynamics in mangrove sediments.
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The datasets supporting the conclusions of this article are included in the article (and its supplementary information files). Besides, the other datasets, i.e., mangrove system wise datasets, will be available on reasonable request.
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29 April 2021
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14155-3
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Acknowledgements
This study was undertaken as part of the in-house research study of NCSCM on BECOCE studies (IR12008). This study was supported by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, and the World Bank under the India ICZM project (Contribution number: 2020/ncscm/0030). The authors (except YR and AK) acknowledge GCRF South Asian Nitrogen Hub (SANH) for sharing scientific knowledge on nutrient management. The authors thank Dr. Pascal Bodmar and Dr. Mario Muscarello (Université du Québec à Montréal) for the insightful comments and assistance with English. We thank Ms. Arunima Panigrahi (National Institute of Oceanography) for assisting in making a sampling location map.
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Yudhistir Reddy executed the study and prepared the first draft of the manuscript. Dipnarayan Ganguly, Gurmeet Singh, Paneer Selvam Arumughan, Kakolee Banerjee, Purvaja Ramachandran, and Ramesh Ramachandran led the sampling design. All authors contributed with data collection. Yudhistir Reddy, under the guidance of Dipnarayan Ganguly analyzed the sediment samples, and Yudhistir Reddy, Arumugam Kathirvel, and Mamidala Harikrishna Prasad analyzed the water samples and interpreted the datasets. Yudhistir Reddy led all the statistical analysis. Dipnarayan Ganguly, Mamidala Harikrishna Prasad, Gurmeet Singh, and Paneer Selvam Arumughan contributed in reviewing the manuscript. Purvaja Ramachandran and Ramesh Ramachandran contributed with supervision and project administration. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Reddy, Y., Ganguly, D., Singh, G. et al. Assessment of bioavailable nitrogen and phosphorus content in the sediments of Indian mangroves. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 42051–42069 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13638-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13638-7