| The seasonal formation of a bottom-water layer severely depleted in dissolved oxygen has become a perennial occurrence on the Louisiana continental shelf adjacent to the Mississippi River system. Dramatic changes have occurred in this coastal ecosystem in the last half of the 20th century as the loads of dissolved inorganic nitrogen tripled. There are increases in primary production, shifts in phytoplankton community composition, changes in trophic interactions, and worsening severity of hypoxia. The river-influenced continental shelf is representative of similar ecosystems in which increased nutrient flux to the coastal ocean has resulted in eutrophication and subsequently hypoxia. The hypoxic conditions (dissolved oxygen less than 2 mg L-1) cover up to... |
