Effects of natural and human-induced hypoxia on coastal benthos

Abstract. Coastal hypoxia (defined here as <1.42 ml L−1; 62.5 μM; 2 mg L−1, approx. 30% oxygen saturation) develops seasonally in many estuaries, fjords, and along open coasts as a result of natural upwelling or from anthropogenic eutrophication induced by riverine nutrient inputs. Permanent hypoxia occurs naturally in some isolated seas and marine basins as well as in open slope oxygen minimum zones. Responses of benthos to hypoxia depend on the duration, predictability, and intensity of oxygen depletion and on whether H2S is formed. Under suboxic conditions, large mats of filamentous sulfide oxidizing bacteria cover the seabed and consume sulfide. They are hypothesized to provide a detoxified microhabitat…

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• SR
  Sight Research UK

  Award: soc010009
• NE
  Natural Environment Research Council

  Award: soc010009