Nutrient Pools of an Estuarine Ecosystem--The Blackwood River Estuary in South-Western Australia

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Abstract
The Blackwood River Estuary in south-western Australia contains essentially fresh water in winter, but stratified saline water in summer, as a result of a markedly seasonal climate. This seasonal pattern not only influences the distribution and concentration of the major cations and anions, but also that of the major plant nutrients, N and P. P and N are at relatively low concentration during the summer saline phase and at high concentration during the winter freshwater phase. The sediments contain high concentrations of these nutrients, relative to the concentrations in the water column, throughout the year. The plant communities represent a large mineral-nutrient pool in the estuary. The fringing plant communities liberate some of their N and P to the soil after death, and this is reflected in a correlation between soil-nutrient content and stage in plant succession.

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