Watershed Deforestation and Down- Estuary Transformations Alter Sources, Transport, and Export of Suspended Particles in Panamanian Mangrove Estuaries
Ecosystems (2014) 17: 96–111 DOI: 10.1007/s10021-013-9709-5 Ó 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York Watershed Deforestation and Down- Estuary Transformations Alter Sources, Transport, and Export of Suspended Particles in Panamanian Mangrove Estuaries I. Valiela,1* M. Bartholomew,1 A. Giblin,1 J. Tucker,1 C. Harris,1 P. Martinetto,2 M. Otter,1 L. Camilli,3 and T. Stone4 1Marine Biological Laboratory, The Ecosystems Center, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA; 2Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientı´ficas y Te´cnicas, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, CC573 Mar del Plata, Argentina; 3Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA; 4Woods Hole Research Center, Falmouth, Massachusetts 02540, USA ABSTRACT We identified eight Panamanian watersheds in particulate matter were mostly erased by within- which conversion from wet tropical forest to pas- estuary transformations. Isotopic signatures of C, N, tures differed and assessed the effects of degree of and S in particulate matter demonstrated strong deforestation, and down-estuary transformations, land-sea couplings, and indicated that the direction on the suspended particulate matter discharged from of the coupling was asymmetrical, with terrestrial the watersheds, entering, traversing through man- and estuarine sources delivering particulate materi- grove estuaries, and emerging into coastal waters. als to coastal waters and sediments. Mangrove Deforested watersheds discharged larger concen- estuaries therefore both act as powerful modulators trations of suspended particulate matter, with lower of human activities on land, while also exporting % C and N, higher mineral content, and heavier particulate materials to sea. isotopic signatures into fresh reaches of estuaries.
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