Porewater nutrient enrichment alters benthic-pelagic coupling on intertidal sandflats

Highlights

• Estuary eutrophication can affect both top-down and bottom-up ecological processes.
• We elevated sediment porewater nitrogen to test effects on microphytobenthos and grazers.
• Nitrogen enrichment doubled benthic microphyte biomass and altered macrofauna communities.
• Enrichment effects did not alter sediment erosion threshold or rate.
• Erosion of nitrogen-enriched sediment released substantial nutrients and chlorophyll a.

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