A Preliminary Survey of the Nitrogen and Carbon Isotope Characteristics of Fish from the Lagoons of Egypt’S Nile Delta
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Estuaries and Coasts (2008) 31:1130–1142 DOI 10.1007/s12237-008-9102-3 A Preliminary Survey of the Nitrogen and Carbon Isotope Characteristics of Fish from the Lagoons of Egypt’s Nile Delta Autumn Oczkowski & Scott Nixon & Steve Granger & Abdel-Fattah M. El-Sayed & Mark Altabet & Richard McKinney Received: 26 June 2008 /Revised: 13 August 2008 /Accepted: 23 September 2008 /Published online: 17 October 2008 # Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation 2008 Abstract The present study reports nitrogen and carbon probable importance of autochthonous particulate organic stable isotope data (δ15N and δ13C) from four large (63– matter rather than terrestrial detritus or marine plankton in 400 km2), shallow (∼1 m) coastal lagoons on Egypt’s Nile the diets of resident fish populations in the lagoons. Delta. While the lagoons all receive sewage and agricultural drainage, the magnitude of loading varies. In this prelim- Keywords Stable isotope . Nitrogen . Carbon . Egypt . inary survey, we document wide variability in the δ15N and Lagoons . Nile delta δ13C isotope values of major fish groups among these lagoons. There were no consistent or significant differences among the major groups of fish, including carp, catfish, Introduction mullet, and tilapia. There was a strong positive correlation (R2=0.84) between the average δ15N values of fish muscle Egypt’s Nile Delta is a highly engineered system that has and estimated water residence time among the lagoons. been modified by human activity for 5,000 years (Brewer This preliminary evidence suggests that nitrogen cycle 2005). Four large lagoons along the northern coast are transformations may be more important than primary N striking features on the delta landscape (Fig. 1). The source differences in determining N isotopic ratios of lagoons have an equally long history of human impact set organisms in the lagoons. The δ13C results point to the in the context of rapidly changing social and natural systems. Some of the modern pressures include the A. Oczkowski (*) : S. Nixon : S. Granger conversion of lagoon area to land agriculture, aquaculture Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, ponds and salt pans, changes in hydrology, circulation and South Ferry Road, sediment load, the addition of large amounts of agricultural Narragansett, RI 02882, USA e-mail: [email protected] drainage water and urban sewage, and dramatic increases in inorganic nutrient concentrations (Hamza 2006; Oczkowski A.-F. M. El-Sayed and Nixon 2008). There is also a long history of intensive Department Oceanography, Faculty of Science, artisanal fishing in the lagoons (Oczkowski and Nixon Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt 2008). The impacts of these pressures on the lagoon ecosystems are largely undocumented. M. Altabet While subjected to a range of ever-changing physical The School for Marine Science and Technology, and chemical conditions, the lagoons have generally University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 706 South Rodney French Boulevard, remained productive. Together, they supply approximately New Bedford, MA 02744, USA 30% to 40% of Egypt’s commercial fish landings and provide an important local food source (GAFRD 2007). R. McKinney Anthropogenic sources of nutrients are sufficiently large Atlantic Ecology Division, US Environmental Protection Agency, 27 Tarzwell Drive, that at least part of this coastal fishery may be supported by Narragansett, RI 02882, USA nutrient loading from fertilizers and sewage associated with Estuaries and Coasts (2008) 31:1130–1142 1131 the agricultural practices on the delta and cities discharging sewage (largely untreated) either upstream or directly into the lagoons (Nixon 2003; Oczkowski and Nixon 2008). However, direct evidence that anthropogenic nutrients contribute to lagoon food webs and productivity is lacking. The agricultural drainage water also potentially links food chains in the lagoons to nutrients and terrestrial detritus from the highly productive agricultural vegetation covering the delta. Context of the Study With Egypt more than 95% desert, all of the nation’s agriculture and 90% of its population is confined to the narrow banks of the Nile and the delta (25,000 km2; Fig. 1; Nixon 2003). The delta itself is a complex mosaic of cities, towns, and villages set among large agricultural areas. Few of these small urban centers are equipped with sewage treatment infrastructure, and their waste is released into more than 13,000 km of drainage canals which eventually discharge to four large (63–500 km2), shallow (∼1 m deep) coastal lagoons (Burullus, Edku, Manzalah, Maryut) or directly offshore (Richards 1982; National Water Resources Plan 2017 2005). As water is such a valuable resource in Egypt, there are very dense and highly engineered networks of agricultural canals taking water from the Nile to irrigate tile-drained fields and agricultural drains to carry water from the fields for ultimate discharge to the lagoons or on the Mediterranean Coast (Stanley 1996; National Water Resources Plan 2017 2005). Since the closure of the Aswan High Dam in 1965, Egypt’s fertilizer consumption has increased almost four- fold, and the country’s population has more than doubled (FAO 2008). These changes suggest a dramatic increase in the N and phosphorous (P) loads to the delta ecosystem as ’ Fig. 1 The top panel: Egypt s Nile Delta with agricultural areas the amounts of agricultural runoff and sewage have indicated in grey (source data, Digital Chart of the World (DCW), Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI) 1:1,000,000 continued to increase (Nixon 2003). The control of the scale). The Nile flows north through Cairo and then splits into the Nile also made it possible to provide irrigation all year and Rosetta and Damietta branches (black lines). Dark gray lines represent maintain the agricultural areas of the delta in almost some of the major drains and canals on the delta (data from DCW). continuous production. The crosshairs in the center of the image correspond to 31°0′ E, 31°0′ N. Lagoon panels (below top panel), clockwise from upper left, show Our purpose in this preliminary study was to take Burullus, Manzalah, Edku, and Maryut lagoons. Sampling locations advantage of two opportunities to visit the delta lagoons and are represented by closed circles, and the fish collected at these obtain samples of common commercial fishes from each locations are identified in Table 4 and correspond to the identification system. No stable isotope measurements have been reported numbers associated with the circles. In Maryut Lagoon, only the Main Basin (MB) and Fisheries Basins (FB) are shown. The Desert Road from the lagoons, and we hoped that stable isotopes would divides these two basins and fish, water, and Nile lily samples were prove useful in documenting human influences on food webs taken from each basin (at the closed circles). The city of Alexandria and productivity in this very complex and perturbed environ- lies between Maryut Lagoon and the Mediterranean Sea. A sample of ment. We also sought to evaluate the importance of commercial fish food was sampled near Manzalah Lagoon at the closed circle labeled FF anthropogenic inputs compared to in situ N transformations in determining differences in nitrogen isotope values (δ15N) in lagoon food webs and to investigate the potential importance of terrestrial C and fresh and brackish water phytoplankton C sources in lagoon food chains. 1132 Estuaries and Coasts (2008) 31:1130–1142 Stable isotopes are now commonly used to look at the and particulate N of 1–2‰ (Sheats 2000). It was unclear at impact of anthropogenic nutrients on biogeochemical the outset if δ15N of fish from the different lagoons would cycles and food web structures (e.g., McClelland et al. be distinguishable or much greater than about 4–5‰ 1997; Fry 2002; Rogers 2003; Savage 2005; Oczkowski et (allowing for trophic fractionation of 3–4‰ from primary al. 2008). This is possible because N introduced via human producers). However, N isotopes fractionate with in-stream activities such as sewage effluent and fertilizer application, uptake, nitrification, and denitrification, and the δ15N can often be distinguished from N supplied by “natural” values observed in biota represent a complex mix of both sources (Fry 2006). Differences in the isotope ratio of heavy source and in-stream processing. Fry and Allen (2003) carbon (13C) to light (12C) in terrestrial plants and phyto- observed bivalves with δ15N values consistently >10‰ in plankton have been used for over 40 years to assess the the Mississippi River, which drains a large agricultural relative importance of terrestrial plant detritus compared with watershed. Raw wastewater (δ15N about 2‰ and 6‰, for − + in situ plankton primary producers in influencing secondary NO3 and NH4 , respectively) retained in temperate ponds productivity in coastal marine ecosystems (Parker 1967; for 13–20 days also had δ15N>10‰, which also points to Haines 1979;Fry2006). Numerous studies have shown that the significance of in situ fractionation (Jordan et al. 1997). different sources can be discerned even without character- Considering the complex network of agricultural drains on ization of the specific sources (Schlacher et al. 2005; Vizzini the delta, it seemed possible that fractionation of δ15Nin et al. 2005; Abreu et al. 2006; Bannon and Roman 2008; the bioavailable N pool would take place during transport Oczkowski et al. 2008). and fish would be characterized by much heavier (>10‰) We chose to focus primarily on the stable isotope values isotope values (Stanley 1996). of fish because they are of great commercial interest and are We anticipated that the contrast between δ13C source relatively long term integrators of nutrient enrichment and values would be more distinct, as fractionation within the carbon sources supporting secondary production (Vizzini et food web is far less for δ13C (Fry 2006; Finlay and Kendall al. 2005). 2007). Mediterranean fish typically have δ13Cvalues It was our hypothesis that differences in flow rates, crop ranging from −9‰ to −20‰ (Vizzini et al.