Potential for Local Fertilization: A Benthocosm Test of Long-Term and Short-Term Effects of Mussel Excretion on the Plankton. Cherif, M., Granados, M., Duffy, S., Robert, P., Péquin, B., Mohit, V., McKindsey, C. W., Archambault, P., Myrand, B., Lovejoy, C., Tremblay, R., Plourde, S., & Fussmann, G. F. PLOS ONE, 11(6):e0156411, June, 2016.
Potential for Local Fertilization: A Benthocosm Test of Long-Term and Short-Term Effects of Mussel Excretion on the Plankton [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
Mussel aquaculture has expanded worldwide and it is important to assess its impact on the water column and the planktonic food web to determine the sustainability of farming practices. Mussel farming may affect the planktonic food web indirectly by excreting bioavailable nutrients in the water column (a short-term effect) or by increasing nutrient effluxes from biodeposit-enriched sediments (a long-term effect). We tested both of these indirect effects in a lagoon by using plankton-enclosing benthocosms that were placed on the bottom of a shallow lagoon either inside of a mussel farm or at reference sites with no history of aquaculture. At each site, half of the benthocosms were enriched with seawater that had held mussels (excretion treatment), the other half received non-enriched seawater as a control treatment. We monitored nutrients ([PO43-] and [NH4+]), dissolved oxygen and plankton components (bacteria, the phytoplankton and the zooplankton) over 5 days. We found a significant relationship between long-term accumulation of mussel biodeposits in sediments, water-column nutrient concentrations and plankton growth. Effects of mussel excretion were not detected, too weak to be significant given the spatial and temporal variability observed in the lagoon. Effects of mussels on the water column are thus likely to be coupled to benthic processes in such semi-enclosed water bodies.
@article{cherif_potential_2016,
	title = {Potential for {Local} {Fertilization}: {A} {Benthocosm} {Test} of {Long}-{Term} and {Short}-{Term} {Effects} of {Mussel} {Excretion} on the {Plankton}},
	volume = {11},
	issn = {1932-6203},
	shorttitle = {Potential for {Local} {Fertilization}},
	url = {http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0156411},
	doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0156411},
	abstract = {Mussel aquaculture has expanded worldwide and it is important to assess its impact on the water column and the planktonic food web to determine the sustainability of farming practices. Mussel farming may affect the planktonic food web indirectly by excreting bioavailable nutrients in the water column (a short-term effect) or by increasing nutrient effluxes from biodeposit-enriched sediments (a long-term effect). We tested both of these indirect effects in a lagoon by using plankton-enclosing benthocosms that were placed on the bottom of a shallow lagoon either inside of a mussel farm or at reference sites with no history of aquaculture. At each site, half of the benthocosms were enriched with seawater that had held mussels (excretion treatment), the other half received non-enriched seawater as a control treatment. We monitored nutrients ([PO43-] and [NH4+]), dissolved oxygen and plankton components (bacteria, the phytoplankton and the zooplankton) over 5 days. We found a significant relationship between long-term accumulation of mussel biodeposits in sediments, water-column nutrient concentrations and plankton growth. Effects of mussel excretion were not detected, too weak to be significant given the spatial and temporal variability observed in the lagoon. Effects of mussels on the water column are thus likely to be coupled to benthic processes in such semi-enclosed water bodies.},
	number = {6},
	urldate = {2017-05-27},
	journal = {PLOS ONE},
	author = {Cherif, Mehdi and Granados, Monica and Duffy, Sean and Robert, Pauline and Péquin, Bérangère and Mohit, Vani and McKindsey, Christopher W. and Archambault, Philippe and Myrand, Bruno and Lovejoy, Connie and Tremblay, Réjean and Plourde, Stéphane and Fussmann, Gregor F.},
	month = jun,
	year = {2016},
	keywords = {\#nosource, Lagoons, Mussels, Sediment, Water columns, excretion, phytoplankton, plankton, zooplankton},
	pages = {e0156411},
}

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