Distributions of particulate and dissolved phosphorus in aquatic habitats of Peninsular Malaysia
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2018
Abstract
Particulate phosphorus was the dominant phosphorus species and accounted for 72 ± 5% of total phosphorus in coastal habitats, 63 ± 4% in estuaries, 58 ± 6% in lakes and 80 ± 7% in aquaculture farms whereas dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) and dissolved organic phosphorus (DOP) were minor components. Correlation analyses (DIP vs Chl a; R2 = 0.407, df = 31, p < 0.001) suggested phosphorus limiting conditions in lakes, which was corroborated with the highest alkaline phosphatase activity (APA) that fluctuated from 0.38 to 41.14 nmol L−1 min−1. In contrast, APA was elevated in coastal habitats and estuaries only when DIP concentration decreased below 0.9 μM. Moreover size-fractionation experiment showed that the highest APA was detected in the 0.2–2 μm pico-size fraction. Our results suggested that the main APA in coastal habitats and estuaries was from phototrophic pico-eukaryotes and heterotrophic bacteria, and regulated largely by DIP availability.
Keywords
Particulate phosphorus, Dissolved inorganic phosphorus, Dissolved organic phosphorus, Alkaline phosphatase activity, Tropical waters
Divisions
InstituteofBiologicalSciences,ocean
Funders
University of Malaya (RP001D-13SUS and UM.C/625/1/HIR/050),Ministry of Higher Education (HiCoE grant IOES-2014D)
Publication Title
Marine Pollution Bulletin
Volume
128
Publisher
Elsevier