Compuestos de nitrógeno y fósforo en las aguas superficiales de tres zonas de la plataforma marina cubana. Nitrogen and phosphorus compounds in water surface in three zones of cuban marine shelf.

The Gulf of Guacanayabo was studied in 1990 and 1991. The Gulf of Batabano was evaluated from 1998 to 2003, and Sabana-Camaguey Archipelago was investigated in the stage 2001-2005. The objective of these researches was to evaluate nitrogen and phosphorus contents in these three regions of Cuban marine shelf and to establish the relations existing between both nutrients. The gulfs of Guacanayabo and Batabano have a greater nitrogen and phosphorus potential than Sabana-Camaguey coastal ecosystem, due to the lesser development of the fluvial network in this ecosystem; although in the three regions the concentrations of these compounds receive a marked anthropogenic influence. The total nitrogen-total phosphorus ratio, N.T./P.T., showed a tendency to decrease in regions with seagrass cover, attributed to the amounts of phosphorus that this biotope contributes to the water matrix, although the predominant values were those in which none of the nutrients is restrictive, and unlike the total inorganic nitrogen-inorganic phosphorus ratio, NTI/P, it does not have a well-defined pattern in the different climatic periods.