Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

CS41 Phytoplankton: Nutrient Dynamics and Physiology

Date: Friday, February 16, 2001, Time: 10:00:00 AM

Location: Galisteo

Lassiter, A, M, Romberg Tiburon Center, SFSU, Tiburon, USA, amlassiter@yahoo.com

Hogue, V, E, Romberg Tiburon Center, SFSU, Tiburon, USA, vhogue@sfsu.edu

Wilkerson, F, P, Romberg Tiburon Center, SFSU, Tiburon, USA, fwilkers@sfsu.edu

SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL PATTERNS OF PHYTOPLANKTON SPECIATION OFF THE COAST OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

As part of a NSF funded project, Coastal Ocean Processes (CoOP West), to determine the fate of upwelled nutrients, pCO2, and primary productivity, phytoplankton assemblage composition was examined over the shelf off northern California in June, 2000. Samples were collected over the inner shelf, mid shelf, in the upwelling plume, and off shore. Phytoplankton were enumerated using the Utermohl technique, and biomass (as chlorophyll a) was measured for the community as a whole and for cells greater than 5µm in diameter. Preliminary results indicate high levels of productivity with an expected depletion of upwelled nutrients, as well as a reduction of pCO2 with an increase in phytoplankton numbers. Initial taxonomic observations show a phytoplankton population made up of larger species of diatoms along the inner shelf. The off shore population was dominated by smaller flagellated phytoplankton.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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