The mechanisms by which phytoplankton cope with stressors in the marine environment are neither fully characterized nor understood. As viruses are the most abundant entities in the global ocean and represent a strong top-down regulator of phytoplankton abundance and diversity, we sought to characterize the cellular response of two marine haptophytes to virus infection in order to gain more know...

Fixed inorganic nitrogen (N) is persistently scarce in the well-lit regions of the subtropical ocean gyres and its supply plays an important role in controlling phytoplankton productivity. In a series of experiments conducted in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG), we examined changes in primary productivity and eukaryotic phytoplankton community structure in response to additions of nitr...

Introduction: Lakes are ecological systems that can integrate changes throughout their watersheds resulting from anthropogenic activity. Consequently, investigation of biological processes within lakes can elucidate the effects of watershed activity on lake health. Phytoplankton (i.e. suspended algae) the primary producers of pelagic systems – are a conduit through which watershed activity can ...

Seasonal variability of phytoplankton in two lentic habitats of the Chalakkudy river basin viz. Parambikulam and Peringalkuthu reservoirs were studied during 20092011. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of phytoplankton were analysed using standard methods. A total of 102 species of phytoplanktons were recorded from the lentic habitats of the study area during the study period. A higher abun...

The aim of this study is to determine the effect of environmental conditions with emphasis on the main meteorological factors (air temperature variables, sunshine hour, and humidity), on phytoplankton communities. As important primary producers in aquatic ecosystems, phytoplankton communities could be affected by several factors. Environmental factors play the major role in occurrence and diver...

Vaya (Ramsar site, protected area and Natura 2000 site) is the biggest natural lake in Bulgaria and the shallowest Black Sea coastal lake, which during the last decades has undergone significant changes and was included as critically endangered in the Red List of Bulgarian Wetlands. Our studies were conducted during the summer and autumn months of three years - 2004-2006. The paper presents res...

Effects of elevated pCO₂ on Emiliania huxleyi genetic diversity and the viruses that infect E. huxleyi (EhVs) have been investigated in large volume enclosures in a Norwegian fjord. Triplicate enclosures were bubbled with air enriched with CO₂ to 760 ppmv whilst the other three enclosures were bubbled with air at ambient pCO₂; phytoplankton growth was initiated by the addition of nitrate and ph...

Chytrid fungi are highly potent parasites of phytoplankton. They are thought to force phytoplankton organisms into an evolutionary arms race with high population diversity as the outcome. The underlying selection regime is known as Red Queen dynamics. However, our study suggests a more complex picture for chytrid parasitism in the cyanobacterium Planktothrix. Laboratory experiments identified a...