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Day‐to‐day variations in the spring‐summer photosynthetic parameters of coastal marine phytoplankton
Author(s) -
Côté Brenda,
Platt Trevor
Publication year - 1983
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.1983.28.2.0320
Subject(s) - phytoplankton , environmental science , oceanography , spring (device) , storm , seasonality , saturation (graph theory) , atmospheric sciences , ecology , geology , biology , nutrient , mathematics , mechanical engineering , combinatorics , engineering
The day‐to‐day variations over a 70‐day period in the parameters describing the light‐saturation curve of natural assemblages of coastal marine phytoplankton were examined and related to changing environmental conditions. The initial slope, α B , and the light‐saturated rate, P m B , both showed a threefold variation. Correlation and regression analysis attributed most of the variation in α B and P m B to factors relating to community structure. Changes in community structure resulting from the normal progression of spring‐summer conditions were interrupted periodically by transient physical phenomena (passage of storms, periods of up‐welling, etc.). The importance of physical transients to the short term dynamics of the phytoplankton production system places severe constraints on the development of predictive models of phytoplankton production.