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MEPS 173:305-308 (1998)
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Abstract
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Calcium carbonate production of a dense population of the brittle star Ophiothrix fragilis (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea): role in the carbon cycle of a temperate coastal ecosystem
A. Migné1,*, D. Davoult1,**, J.-P. Gattuso2
1Station Marine de Wimereux, Université de Lille 1, EP 1750 CNRS, BP 80, F-62930 Wimereux, France
2Observatoire Océanologique, UPRES-A 7076 CNRS-UPMC, BP 28, F-06234 Villefranche-sur-mer Cedex, France
*Present address: Laboratoire d'Hydrobiologie, Université Paris VI, 12 rue Cuvier, F-75005 Paris, France
**Addressee for correspondence. E-mail: dom@loalit-univlittoral.fr
ABSTRACT: The production of calcium carbonate by a dense Ophiothrix fragilis population was calculated in order to investigate its role in the carbon budget of a temperate coastal ecosystem (Dover Strait, eastern English Channel). Production,
calculated using monthly data of population density, demographic structure and a size/CaCO3 conversion, was 682 g CaCO3 m-2 yr-1. Assuming that the molar ratio of CO2 released to CaCO3
precipitated varied with temperature between 0.66 and 0.73, this production would result in the release of 4.8 mol CO2 m-2 yr-1. This calculation reinforces the suggestion that this coastal system is a source of
CO2 to the atmosphere.
KEY WORDS: CO2 flux · CaCO3 production · Ophiuroid · Coastal ecosystem · Temperate sea
Published in MEPS Vol.
173
(1998) on November 12
ISSN: 0171-8630.
Copyright © Inter-Research, Oldendorf/Luhe, 1998
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