Phytoplankton, as the first level of food accessible to animals, is the main source of nutrient in the ocean. That is why the understanding of its behaviour becomes so important. Properties of phytoplankton have been widely investigated by researchers from various branches of science. Phytoplankton cells have the ability to form aggregates— groups of cells bonded together. Plankton cells in suc...

Most of phytoplankton influence is barely understood at the sub meso scale and daily scale because of the lack of means to simultaneously assess phytoplankton functionality, dynamics and community structure. For a few years now, it has been possible to address this objective with an automated in situ high frequency sampling strategy. In order to study the influence of environmental short-term e...

Mesoscale eddies in the south west Pacific region are prominent ocean features that represent distinctive environments for phytoplankton. Here, we examine the seasonal plankton dynamics associated with averaged cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies (CE and ACE, respectively) off eastern Australia. We do this through building seasonal climatologies of mixed layer depth (MLD) and surface chlorophyll-a...

Phytoplankton population dynamics are controlled by the relative rather than absolute timescales of mixing, growth, and loss processes such as sedimentation, grazing, and so on. Here, the vertical distribution and biomass of phytoplankton populations are quantified by two timescale ratios: the Peclet number Pe—the ratio of mixing and sedimentation timescales—and the growth number G—the ratio of...

Tiffany, M.A., M.R. González, B.K. Swan, K.M. Reifel, J.M. Watts and S.H. Hurlbert. 2007. Phytoplankton dynamics in the Salton Sea, California, 1997-1999. Lake Reserv. Manage. 23:582-605. The dynamics of phytoplankton populations in the Salton Sea were studied over the 3-year period 1997-1999. Dinoflagellates were important components, often contributing over 80% of the total biovolume of cells...

1. Improving the mechanistic basis of biodiversity–ecosystem function relationships requires a better understanding of how functional traits drive the dynamics of populations. For example, environmental disturbances or grazing may increase synchronization of functionally similar species, whereas functionally different species may show independent dynamics, because of different responses to the ...

A turbulent diffusion model shows that there are two different mechanisms for the development of phytoplankton blooms. One of these mechanisms works in well-mixed environments and corresponds to the classical critical depth theory. The other mechanism is based on the rate of turbulent mixing. If turbulent mixing is less than a critical turbulence, phytoplankton growth rates exceed the vertical ...

Early spring phytoplankton blooms can occur at very low water temperatures but they are often decoupled from bacterial growth, which is assumed to be often temperature controlled. In a previous mesocosm study with Baltic Sea plankton communities, an early diatom bloom was associated with a high relative abundance of Glaciecola sequences (Gammaproteobacteria), at both low (2°C) and elevated (8°C...

The climate is warming and it is most noticeable in the arctic and subarctic areas, where the warming trend is expected to be the greatest. Arctic and subarctic freshwater ecosystems, which are a very characteristic feature of the northern landscape, are especially sensitive to climate change. They could be used as early warning systems, but more information about the ecosystem functioning and ...

the early reaction of the plankton communities to environmental changes makes it a useful tool for monitoring the pollution of aquatic environments. lake azili is a small water body, the majority of which is strongly influenced by river ouémé during the floods time. its ecosystem is one of the most important for the country, due to its rich biodiversity, especially that of halieutics. by follow...