Nitrogen enrichment in macroalgae following mass coral mortality

摘要: Scleractinian corals are engineers on coral reefs that provide both structural complexity as habitat and sustenance for other reef-associated organisms via the release of organic inorganic matter. However, facing multiple pressures from climate change stressors, which can result in mass bleaching mortality events. Mass results enhanced matter, cause significant alterations to reef biochemical recycling processes. There is little known about how long these nutrients retained within system, instance, tissues benthic organisms. We investigated changes nitrogen isotopic signatures (δ15N) macroalgal (a) ~ 1 year after a event Seychelles (b) ~ 3 months peak Mo’orea, French Polynesia. In Seychelles, there was strong association between absolute loss total cover branching increase δ15N 2014 2017 (adjusted r2 = 0.79, p = 0.004 adjusted r2 = 0.86, p = 0.002, respectively). short-term transplant experiment found Sargassum mangarevense specimens were deployed with high for ~ 3 weeks (p < 0.05). suggest coral-derived be nutrient cycles, this affect over short- long-term periods, especially opportunistic species such macroalgae. These could therefore proliferate have experienced events, because they been provided space subsidies by death decay corals.