nitrogen-stable isotope signatures in estuarine food webs: A record of increasing urbanization in coastal watersheds

摘要

nutrient enrichment as a result of anthropogenic activity concentrated along the land-sea margin is increasing eutrophication of near-shore waters across the globe. Management of eutrophication in the coastal zone has been hampered by the lack of a direct method to trace nitrogen sources from land into coastal food webs Stable isotope data from a series of estuaries receiving nitrogen loads from 2 to 467 kg N ha~1 yr~1 from the Waquoit Bay watershed, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, indicate that producer and consumer ~15N-to-~14N rations record increases in wastewater nitrogen inputs.