Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes of primary producers in coral reef ecosystems
Open Access
- 1 May 1995
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Limnology and Oceanography
- Vol. 40 (3) , 617-621
- https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.1995.40.3.0617
Abstract
To examine the importance of new primary production and nitrogen fixation in coral reef ecosystems, we compared δ13C and δ15N values of various organic materials (coral tissues, macrophytes, particulate organic materials, and zooplankton) from Palau (7°N) and Ishigaki (24°30′N) coral reefs in the western Pacific Ocean. The δ15N (4–6‰) abundance of coral tissues suggests that zooplankton was not the main source of N for these corals. Low δ15N values of other benthic primary producers (2–6‰) indicate that their nitrogen originates from nitrogen fixation. These values and the high δ13C (−6 to −9‰) of macrophytes sampled at the landward part of both coral reefs lead us to conclude that coral reef ecosystems are sinks of CO2 because of primary production accompanied by uptake of new nitrogen.Keywords
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