Water-Quality Monitoring and Biological Integrity Assessment in the Indian River Lagoon, Florida: Status, Trends, and Loadings (1988-1994)

/ The Indian River Lagoon (IRL) system that extends from Ponce DeLeon Inlet to Jupiter Inlet is comprised of three interconnected estuarine lagoons: the Mosquito Lagoon (ML), the Banana River Lagoon (BRL), and the Indian River Lagoon (subdivided into North Indian River Lagoon, NIRL and the South Ind...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental management (New York) 2000-02, Vol.25 (2), p.199-209
Main Authors: Sigua, GC, Steward, JS, Tweedale, WA
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aquatic ecosystems
Biogeochemistry
Chlorophyll
Environmental management
Environmental monitoring
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
FLORIDA
Freshwater
Lagoons
MONITORING
NITRATES
Nitrogen
Orthophosphate
PHOSPHORUS
POLLUTION SOURCES
RIVERS
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
Turbidity
WATER POLLUTION
Water quality
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:/ The Indian River Lagoon (IRL) system that extends from Ponce DeLeon Inlet to Jupiter Inlet is comprised of three interconnected estuarine lagoons: the Mosquito Lagoon (ML), the Banana River Lagoon (BRL), and the Indian River Lagoon (subdivided into North Indian River Lagoon, NIRL and the South Indian River Lagoon, SIRL). The declines in both the areal coverage and species diversity of seagrass communities within the IRL system are believed to be due in part to continued degradation of water quality. Large inflows of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) -laden storm-water from urban areas and agricultural land have been correlated with higher chlorophyll a production in the central, south central, and the south segments of the lagoon. In a system as large and complex as the lagoon, N and P limitations are potentially subject to significant spatial and temporal variability. Total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TN) was higher in the north (1.25 mg/liter) and lower in the south (0.89 mg/liter). The reverse pattern was observed for total P (TP), i.e., lowest in the north (0.03 mg/liter) and highest at the south (0.14 mg/liter) ends of the IRL. This increased P concentration in the SIRL appears to have a significantly large effect on chlorophyll a production compared with the other segments, as indicated by stepwise regression statistics. This relationship can be expressed as follows: South IRL [chlorophyll a] = -8.52 + 162.41 [orthophosphate] + 7.86 [total nitrogen] + 0.38 [turbidity]; R(2) = 0.98**.
ISSN:0364-152X
1432-1009
DOI:10.1007/s002679910016