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Spatial variability of phytoplankton turnover in relation to physical processes in a coastal environment
Author(s) -
Therriault JeanClaude,
Lawrence Donald J.,
Piatt Trevor
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1978.23.5.0900
Subject(s) - phytoplankton , environmental science , wind stress , turbulence , atmospheric sciences , spatial variability , oceanography , current (fluid) , meteorology , geology , nutrient , ecology , biology , physics , mathematics , statistics
For the near‐surface layer of an exposed coastal embayment, wind stress is shown to be a satisfactory index of turbulence as measured by high frequency current fluctuations. A strong coupling is demonstrated between this index of turbulence and the spatial variance of phytoplankton production efficiency ( P : B ). Physical processes dominate over biological and chemical processes in controlling phytoplankton variability for wind velocities greater than 5 m · s −1 , which occurred 40% of the time.