How does the benthic mortality event of August 2005 off west central Florida differ from the anoxia and dead zone which occurs every year at the mouth of the Mississippi River?
The ‘dead zone’ located off the Louisiana coast each summer is directly associated with Mississippi River discharge. Inorganic nutrients (NO3, NH4, PO4) delivered to the coast from the river cause large blooms of fast-growing, nontoxic diatoms. These blooms die and sink to the bottom along with fecal material from small animals feeding on the diatoms. Warmer surface waters act as a barrier, trapping this decomposing material in deeper, cooler waters where it decomposes and uses up oxygen. Lower concentrations of oxygen stress animals and cause many to leave the area. Other nonotile animals which cannot escape die, leading to more decomposition and oxygen reduction, ultimately leading to anoxia. The Florida red tide is not associated with the Louisiana dead zone. Red tide only rarely occurs off the Louisiana coast. Scientists have found that no single nutrient source, such as the Mississippi River in Louisiana, provides enough nutrients to support a red tide. The area of anoxia off west
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