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Changing Biogeochemistry and Invertebrate Community Composition at Newly Deployed Artificial Reefs in the Northeast Gulf of Mexico

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A Correction to this article was published on 21 September 2023

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Abstract

Artificial reefs have been deployed throughout US coastal waters since the late 1970s, primarily to enhance fisheries. Although numerous studies have examined their effects on fish communities, few have examined interactions between artificial reefs and primary producers or their effects on biogeochemistry of the surrounding water column. Understanding how reefs may alter biogeochemistry and primary producers is key to understanding overall reef productivity. In this study, we examined the relationships among epifauna, algae, and biogeochemical processes on artificial reefs located on the shallow Florida shelf in the Northeast Gulf of Mexico over a year following their deployment. We measured oxygen and nutrient fluxes, attached chlorophyll a, and invertebrate macrofauna. Temporal differences in biomass and chlorophyll a production occurred due to changes in in situ conditions including fluctuations in bottom-water temperature over the year as well as decreasing bottom-water oxygen and increasing chlorophyll a fluorescence during the summer. Invertebrate biomass was greater than micro- or macroalgal biomass. Biomass of the invertebrate epifaunal community increased exponentially during the first 5 months of this study. The reef was net heterotrophic with few differences between oxygen or nutrient fluxes in the light and dark. Positive nitrate and nitrite fluxes and abundances of amoA genes in the microbiomes of benthic invertebrates indicate significant nitrification associated with the epifaunal community. Reef biogeochemistry was directly related to the composition and biomass of the epifaunal community at the reef sites.

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Acknowledgements

We thank David Walter and Walter Marine for donating the reef modules utilized in this study and Robert Turpin of Escambia County Florida Marine Resources Division for providing a permitted artificial reef zone for deployment. We thank Fritz Scharer, Joe Moss, Rachel Presley, Amy Brower, Gary Baine, Matt Davis, Stewart Hood, Ryan Lavoie, Christina Toms, Jeff Eble, Nine Henriksen, Sarah Friedl, Miaya Glaback, Steve Garner, Joe Tarnecki, Sean Kelly, and the crew of the Total Package, and Douglas Hammock and the crew of the H2O Below for their assistance in the field. We thank Alexis Janosik for assisting with invertebrate identifications. Jeremy Bosso, Katherine Haynes, Chelsea Barfield, Whitney Brentana, and Porsha Hernandez assisted in the laboratory.

Funding

This project was paid for [in part] with federal funding from the Department of the Treasury under the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE 529 Act). Funding source had no involvement in study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data or writing of the report.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Environmental Diagnostics and Bioremediation, University of West Florida, 11000 University Parkway, Pensacola, FL, 32514, USA

    Kendra K. Babcock, Florian Cesbron, Lisa A. Waidner & Jane M. Caffrey

  2. Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers INTECHMER, 50100, Cherbourg, France

    Florian Cesbron

  3. Laboratoire des Sciences Appliquées de Cherbourg, Normandie University, UNICAEN, EA 4253, 50100, Cherbourg, France

    Florian Cesbron

  4. Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, University of Florida, 7922 NW 71st Street, Gainesville, FL, 32653, USA

    William F. Patterson III & Steven B. Garner

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  1. Kendra K. Babcock
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Correspondence to Jane M. Caffrey.

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Communicated by Mark J. Brush

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Babcock, K.K., Cesbron, F., Patterson, W.F. et al. Changing Biogeochemistry and Invertebrate Community Composition at Newly Deployed Artificial Reefs in the Northeast Gulf of Mexico. Estuaries and Coasts 43, 680–692 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-020-00713-4

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