TY - JOUR TI - Seabirds supply nitrogen to reefbuilding corals on remote Pacific islets AU - Lorrain, Anne AU - Houlbreque, Fanny AU - Benzoni, Francesca AU - Barjon, Lucie AU - Tremblay-Boyer, Laura AU - Menkes, Christophe AU - Gillikin, David P. AU - Payri, Claude AU - Jourdan, Herve AU - Boussarie, Germain AU - Verheyden, Anouk AU - Vidal, Eric T2 - Nature Scientific Reports AB - Seabirds concentrate nutrients from large marine areas on their nesting islands playing an important ecological role in nutrient transfer between marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Here we investigate the role of guano on corals reefs across scales by analyzing the stable nitrogen isotopic (delta N-15) values of the scleractinian coral Pocillopora damicornis on fringing reefs around two Pacific remote islets with large seabird colonies. Marine stations closest to the seabird colonies had higher nitrate + nitrite concentrations compared to more distant stations. Coral and zooxanthellae delta N-15 values were also higher at these sites, suggesting that guano-derived nitrogen is assimilated into corals and contributes to their nitrogen requirements. The spatial extent of guano influence was however restricted to a local scale. Our results demonstrate that seabird-derived nutrients not only spread across the terrestrial ecosystem, but also affect components of the adjacent marine ecosystem. Further studies are now needed to assess if this nutrient input has a positive or negative effect for corals. Such studies on remote islets also open fresh perspectives to understand how nutrients affect coral reefs isolated from other anthropogenic stressors. DA - 2017/06/16/ PY - 2017 DO - 10.1038/s41598-017-03781-y DP - Web of Science VL - 7 SP - 3721 J2 - Sci Rep LA - English SN - 2045-2322 KW - 20% Discovery HCERES 2020 KW - ACL KW - DISCOVERY KW - IRD KW - SUD KW - Scleractinian corals KW - great-barrier-reef KW - islands KW - marine KW - new-caledonia KW - nitrate KW - ocean acidification KW - skeletal growth KW - stylophora-pistillata KW - water-quality ER -