Document of bibliographic reference 333663

BibliographicReference record

Type

Bibliographic resource

Type of document

Journal article

BibLvlCode

AS

Title

Faunal and environmental drivers of carbon and nitrogen cycling along a permeability gradient in shallow North Sea sediments

Abstract

Ecosystem functions are driven by abiotic and biotic factors, but due to high collinearity of both, it is often difficult to disentangle the drivers of these ecosystem functions. We studied sedimentological and faunal controls of benthic organic matter mineralization, a crucial ecosystem process provided for by sediments of shelf seas. Subtidal benthic habitats representative of the wide permeability gradient found in the Belgian Part of the North Sea (Northeast Atlantic Shelf) were characterized in terms of sediment descriptors, macrofauna, and sediment biogeochemistry was estimated. Our results confirmed a strong correlation between sediment characteristics and macrofauna, and estimated sediment biogeochemical process rates were clearly linked to both. Results of variance partitioning and statistical modelling showed that oxic mineralization and nitrification were mainly regulated by faunal activities whereas anoxic mineralization was regulated by sediment properties, with permeability as a decisive factor. Both biotic and abiotic factors were needed to explain variability in oxygen consumption and total mineralization estimates, suggesting that macrofaunal activities have different effects across habitats. The statistical models were a useful tool to interpret the impact of anthropogenic activities in the study area and represent a step towards predicting the effects of human activities on crucial ecosystem functions.

WebOfScience code

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:000617681100085

Bibliographic citation

Toussaint, E.; De Borger, E.; Braeckman, U.; De Backer, A.; Soetaert, K.; Vanaverbeke, J. (2021). Faunal and environmental drivers of carbon and nitrogen cycling along a permeability gradient in shallow North Sea sediments. Sci. Total Environ. 767: 144994. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.144994

Topic

Marine

Is peer reviewed

true