Fig 1.
Aquarium set-up.
Fig 2.
Change in ammonium concentrations at the end of the week over time (μM).
A) No Ulva sp., B) 1 layer of Ulva sp., C) 6 layers of Ulva sp. Mean values ± 95% confidence limits (n = 3).
Fig 3.
Removal (uptake) of ammonium from the water by autotrophs.
A) No Ulva sp., B) 1 layer of Ulva sp., C) 6 layers of Ulva sp. Horizontal lines represent 100% removal of ammonium by autotrophs for the +N treatment (grey) and the +NN treatment (black), respectively. Mean values ± 95% confidence limits (n = 3).
Fig 4.
Biomass of benthic microalgae.
Each bar represents pooled data from all treatments since there were no significant differences in biomass among treatments. Letters above the bars represent significant differences among weeks. Mean values ± 1 SE (n = 27).
Fig 5.
Relationship between ammonium concentration in the water and biomass of benthic microalgae at the end of each week.
Only data of treatments without Ulva sp. and with ammonium addition were used for this analysis (n = 30).
Fig 6.
A) Survival rate, B) Relative growth rate and C) Net production of Z. noltei.
Letters over the bars represent significant differences between treatments with the same number of Ulva sp. layers; symbols (*, +) represent significant differences between Ulva sp. treatments with the same ammonium treatment. Data represent the mean ± SE (n = 3).
Table 1.
ANOVA results testing the effects of ammonium and Ulva treatments on survival rate (SR), relative growth rate (RGR) and net production (NP) of Zostera noltei.
Bold letters indicate significant differences.