Journal
OCEANOLOGIA
Volume 61, Issue 1, Pages 114-130Publisher
POLISH ACAD SCIENCES INST OCEANOLOGY
DOI: 10.1016/j.oceano.2018.08.001
Keywords
Phytoplankton abundance; Taxonomic composition; Biomass; Size-fractionated chlorophyll; Environmental variables
Categories
Funding
- project IM13OSTREA - Department of Economic Development and Competitiveness of the Basque Government
- project IM16SIMMA - Department of Economic Development and Competitiveness of the Basque Government
- project IM17MUSSELS - Department of Economic Development and Competitiveness of the Basque Government
- Department of Economic Development and Competitiveness of the Basque Government [201, 2013/4467]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study describes, for the first time, the annual variability of phytoplankton community in different layers of the water column in open waters off the Basque coast (southeastern Bay of Biscay). Phytoplankton composition, abundance and biomass, together with size-fractionated chlorophyll a, nutrients, and optical and hydrographic conditions were measured in an experimental bivalve culture area from May 2014 to June 2015. Water column conditions showed the typical dynamics previously described for temperate areas, characterised by winter homogeneity and summer stratification. Phytoplankton temporal variability was studied at depths of 3, 17 and 33 m, and was found to be related to those processes. In particular, temperature and nutrients (mostly nitrate and silicate) were the environmental variables which significantly explained most of the variability of chlorophyll concentration, whereas river flow was the main driver of abundance variability. Total chlorophyll was generally low (0.6 mu g L-1 on average). Of the 194 registered taxa, 47.4% belonged to dinoflagellates and 35.1% to diatoms. In addition, diatoms showed the highest biomass values, and haptophytes represented the greatest contribution to cell-abundance. This fact, despite the low chlorophyll values indicating low phytoplankton biomass, could favour mussel growth given the high fatty acid content reported for diatoms and haptophytes. (C) 2018 Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier Sp. z o.o.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available