TY - JOUR
T1 - Intra-annual variability of water quality and phytoplankton in the North Fork of the St. Lucie River Estuary, Florida (USA)
T2 - A quantitative assessment
AU - Millie, D. F.
AU - Carrick, H. J.
AU - Doering, P. H.
AU - Steidinger, K. A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was funded, in part, by a grant from the Florida Harmful Algal Bloom Commission to DFM and HJC. We thank the personnel of the Coastal Ecology Research Division, South Florida Water Management District for their assistance in field sampling, physical/chemical analyses, and boat operations and personnel of the Harmful Algae Research Group, Florida Marine Research Institute-FWCC for conducting the incubation cultures. Reference to proprietary names are necessary to report factually on available data; however, the Florida Institute of Oceanography, the Pennsylvania State University, and the South Florida Water Management District neither guarantee nor warrant the standard of a product and imply no approval of a product to the exclusion of others that may be suitable.
PY - 2004/9
Y1 - 2004/9
N2 - Water quality and phytoplankton were examined within the North Fork of the St. Lucie River Estuary, Florida (USA) from March 2000 to March 2001. Alterations in water-quality parameters and phytoplankton assemblages mirrored salinity regimes resulting from the 'wet'/'dry' seasonality of south Florida. Salinity was greatest during the 'dry', winter months whereas water temperature and nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations were greatest during the 'wet', summer months. A seasonal dissimilarity in phytoplankton occurred; cell abundance of cyanobacterial picoplankton (Synechocystis sp., Synechococcus sp.) and a diatom (Skeletonema costatum (Greville) Cleve) and cell carbon of a dinoflagellate (Gyrodinium sp.) and S. costatum were greatest during summer whereas abundance of chrysophytes (Chrysochromulina parva Lackey, Chromulina sp.) and carbon of dinoflagellates (Gymnodinium spp., Heterocapsa rotundata (Lohmann) Hansen) and a diatom (Cyclotella sp.) were greatest during winter. Water-column chlorophyll a concentrations reached up to 29μgL-1 and were negatively associated with salinity. Diatom chlorophyll comprised the majority and at times, greater than 90% of the total chlorophyll a. Picoplanktonic cyanobacteria comprised up to 5% and 1.4% of total phytoplankton carbon and chlorophyll a, respectively throughout the estuary; as such, its impact on overall assemblage rate processes and system-level function appeared minimal. Sediment and whole-water incubations confirmed the presence of heterotrophic dinoflagellates within the estuary. Dissolved oxygen concentrations did not correspond with total chlorophyll a concentrations and salinity, indicating that hypoxia within bottom waters during summer was not solely attributable to phytoplankton biomass or water-column stratification but likely, a result of multiple, interacting physical/chemical and biological factors.
AB - Water quality and phytoplankton were examined within the North Fork of the St. Lucie River Estuary, Florida (USA) from March 2000 to March 2001. Alterations in water-quality parameters and phytoplankton assemblages mirrored salinity regimes resulting from the 'wet'/'dry' seasonality of south Florida. Salinity was greatest during the 'dry', winter months whereas water temperature and nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations were greatest during the 'wet', summer months. A seasonal dissimilarity in phytoplankton occurred; cell abundance of cyanobacterial picoplankton (Synechocystis sp., Synechococcus sp.) and a diatom (Skeletonema costatum (Greville) Cleve) and cell carbon of a dinoflagellate (Gyrodinium sp.) and S. costatum were greatest during summer whereas abundance of chrysophytes (Chrysochromulina parva Lackey, Chromulina sp.) and carbon of dinoflagellates (Gymnodinium spp., Heterocapsa rotundata (Lohmann) Hansen) and a diatom (Cyclotella sp.) were greatest during winter. Water-column chlorophyll a concentrations reached up to 29μgL-1 and were negatively associated with salinity. Diatom chlorophyll comprised the majority and at times, greater than 90% of the total chlorophyll a. Picoplanktonic cyanobacteria comprised up to 5% and 1.4% of total phytoplankton carbon and chlorophyll a, respectively throughout the estuary; as such, its impact on overall assemblage rate processes and system-level function appeared minimal. Sediment and whole-water incubations confirmed the presence of heterotrophic dinoflagellates within the estuary. Dissolved oxygen concentrations did not correspond with total chlorophyll a concentrations and salinity, indicating that hypoxia within bottom waters during summer was not solely attributable to phytoplankton biomass or water-column stratification but likely, a result of multiple, interacting physical/chemical and biological factors.
KW - estuaries
KW - hypoxia
KW - microalgae
KW - nutrients
KW - picoplankton
KW - seasonal
KW - south Florida
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=4444235113&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ecss.2004.04.010
DO - 10.1016/j.ecss.2004.04.010
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:4444235113
SN - 0272-7714
VL - 61
SP - 137
EP - 149
JO - Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science
JF - Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science
IS - 1
ER -