Exceptional blooms of diatoms associated with anomalous hydrographic conditions in the Southern Bight in early 1977
Reid, Ph.C. (1983). Exceptional blooms of diatoms associated with anomalous hydrographic conditions in the Southern Bight in early 1977. J. Plankton Res. 5(5): 755-765
In: Journal of Plankton Research. Oxford University Press: New York,. ISSN 0142-7873; e-ISSN 1464-3774, meer
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Trefwoorden |
Algae > Diatoms Algal blooms Environmental effects > Light effects Environmental effects > Salinity effects Environmental effects > Temperature effects Properties > Chemical properties > Salinity Properties > Physical properties > Thermodynamic properties > Temperature Radiations > Electromagnetic radiation > Light Water masses Water mixing Bacillariophycidae [WoRMS] Marien/Kust |
Abstract |
A study of the plankton along a Continuous Plankton Recorder route between Leith (Edinburgh) and Rotterdam has drawn attention to an exceptional event in early 1977. Large and early blooms of diatoms occurred at the southern end of the route in the central Southern Bight from January to May 1977. These blooms were associated with high numbers of copepods for the time of year. Alternative explanations for the diatom blooms are discussed: first, that they developed from significantly larger than usual overwintering standing stocks which survived from the autumn of 1976 and second, that the blooms were a response to exceptional hydrographic and meteorological conditions in the Southern Bight in early 1977. The juxtaposition of two very different water masses off the Dutch coast may, through frontal stratification, have reduced the depth of the mixed layer and thus increased the exposure of the phytoplankton to light. |
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