Productivity of Marine Macroalgae

Macroalgal-dominated Communities Nitrogen Supply Controls Community Characteristics 

Macroalgae are important members of the primary producer community in shallow soft-sediment systems worldwide where light penetrates to large areas of the benthos. In soft-sediment systems subject to low N-loading rates, macroalgae are 

Algal blooms reduce diversity in estuaries by depleting the water column and sediments of oxygen (Sfriso et al, 1987 Valiela et al, 1992 Young et al, 

Coral reefs are productive, diverse, and economically important ecosystems that dominate hard-bottomed habitats in low-nutrient tropical and subtropical waters. On pristine coral reefs, it is widely accepted that fleshy macroalgae are rarely spatially 

Microcosm and in situ field experimental studies of nutrient Hmitation of tropical algae have had conflicting results, adding fuel to this controversy. Across many systems and scales, effects of nutrient additions have varied from no effects (Delgado et al., 1996 Koop et al., 2001 Larkum and Koop, 1997) to orders of magnitude differences in effects on photosynthesis, growth, and biomass accumulation 

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