Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS07 Biomechanics: Turbulent Mass Transfer (Environmental Connections)

Date: Monday, February 12, 2001, Time: 3:45:00 PM

Location: San Miguel

Thomas, F, I, University of South Florida, Tampa, USA, fthomas@chuma1.cas.usf.edu

WATER VELOCITY AND CANOPY MORPHOLOGY: EFFECTS ON NUTRIENT TRANSPORT TO BENTHIC COMMUNITIES

Both water velocity and the topography of the bottom influence the transport of dissolved nutrients to marine benthic communities. The major topographic features in these communities are often the organisms themselves. For example in seagrass beds and coral reefs the predominant structure is created by organisms involved in nutrient removal. To approach this complex problem, we have used field flume experiments in conjunction with empirically derived engineering models to examine how water velocity and canopy morphology affect nutrient uptake by both seagrass and coral reef communities. Our results indicate that ammonium uptake in these communities is mass transfer limited and can be estimated to within 80-95% using these engineering models. Further, we have examined the effects of bi-directional flow on uptake and used stable isotope analysis to verify these models.

This Session Listing

Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

Quicklinks