Roles of sorption and tube-dwelling benthos in the cycling of phosphorus in Bering Sea sediments

Adsorption of dissolved phosphate onto iron-hydroxides has been shown to be one of the primary regulators of phosphorus cycling in sediments. Bioturbation and bioirrigation by benthic infauna modify this cycling by accelerating the transport of dissolved and particulate phosphorus and by changing rates of reactions that occur in the sediment, such as the adsorption of phosphate by amorphous iron hydroxides. Hydrographic processes vary regionally in the Bering Sea and nutrient exchange between the sediments of the broad shallow shelf and overlying water may influence water column productivity. These characteristics make the Bering Sea a good study site for examining the processes that influence sedimentary cycling of phosphorus. To examine these processes, we collected samples in four domains (southern middle shelf, southern outer shelf, southern off shelf (consisting of the continental slope and Bering Sea basin) and northern Bering shelf) based on hydrographic regime. At each station we directly measured phosphate flux and sediment oxygen consumption using whole–core incubations. We also measured infaunal burrow abundances, amorphous iron-hydroxide concentrations and phosphate sorption. We found that three out of the four domains had a high affinity for trapping phosphate in the sediment, as indicated by their adsorption coefficients (6.59–81.81). However, the measured phosphate fluxes could not be explained by the adsorption capacity of the sediment alone. The results indicated that on the middle shelf, the phosphate flux positively co-varied with infaunal burrow abundances. The high number of organisms in this domain (10–32 burrows per 50 cm2 core) enhances the flux of phosphate to the overlying water. Controls on the phosphate flux on the middle shelf cannot be properly understood unless benthic infaunal abundance is taken into account.