Nutrient overload promotes the transition from top-down to bottom-up control and triggers dystrophic crises in a Mediterranean coastal lagoon

The excess input of nutrients that triggers eutrophication processes is one of the main destabilizing factors of coastal ecosystems, being coastal lagoons prone to suffer these effects and present dystrophic crises. This process is aggravated by the current trend of rising temperatures and more frequent torrential rains due to climate change. We observed that the Mar Menor lagoon had a great capacity for self-regulation of its trophic web and resistance to the eutrophication process, but after 30 years of nutrient input due to the change in the agricultural regime in its drainage basin in the 1990s, the lagoon ecosystem has suffered several of these events. In this work, we characterize the seasonal dynamic of the pelagic system during the last dystrophic crises. Phosphorus and nitrogen alternate as the limiting nutrient for phytoplankton proliferation. The entrance of phosphorus is mainly related to vacation periods, while nitrogen inputs, both superficial and sub-superficial, are more related to chronic high nitrates concentration in the water table after the agricultural activities carried out in the area changed. Our analysis reveals that the summer season is prone to suffer periodical hypoxia events when the N/P ratio decreases, and the temperature rises. In the Mar Menor, the ecological balance has been maintained in recent decades thanks to, among other mechanisms, the spatial and temporal segregation of top-down control over phytoplankton exerted by three species of jellyfish. However, the deep reduction in the abundance of the summer jellyfish species and the excessive proliferation of phytoplankton has meant the loss of this control. Moreover, we have registered a decline in the abundance of all the other zooplanktonic groups during the dystrophic crises. We suggest that management actions should address the input sources of water and nutrients, and an integrated management of the activities carried out throughout the watershed.

Data and Resources

This dataset has no data

Metadata
Download
DCAT-AP/NTI-RISP

Basic information
Resource type Text
Date of creation 2024-09-17
Date of last revision 2024-09-17
Show changelog
Metadata identifier 60d17871-30f5-5648-b656-c2e2c2386b3c
Metadata language Spanish
Themes (NTI-RISP)
High-value dataset category
ISO 19115 topic category biota
Other identifier DOI 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157388
Keyword URIs
Character encoding UTF-8
Spatial information
INSPIRE identifier ESPMITECOIEPNBMMENOR080
INSPIRE Themes
Geographic identifier Murcia
Coordinate Reference System
Spatial representation Type
Bounding Box
"{\"type\": \"Polygon\", \"coordinates\": [[[-2.34, 37.38], [-0.69, 37.38], [-0.69, 38.76], [-2.34, 38.76], [-2.34, 37.38]]]}"
Spatial resolution of the dataset (m)
Provenance
Lineage statement
Metadata Standard
Conformity
Source dataset
Update frequency
Sources
  1. Science of The Total Environment
  2. Vol 846
Purpose
Process steps
Temporal extent (Start)
Temporal extent (End)
Version notes
Version
Dataset validity
Responsible Party
Name of the dataset creator Fernandez-Alias, A., Montano-Barroso, T., Conde-Cano, M.R., Manchado-Perez, S., Lopez-Galindo, C., Quispe-Becerra, J.I., Marcos, C. y Perez-Ruzafa, A.
Name of the dataset maintainer
Identifier of the dataset creator
Email of the dataset creator alfredo.fernandez@um.es
Website of the dataset creator
Identifier of the dataset maintainer
Email of the dataset maintainer
Website of the dataset maintainer