In contrast with the marine reaches of estuaries, few studies have dealt with zooplankton grazing on phytoplankton in the upper estuarine reaches, where freshwater zooplankton species tend to dominate the zooplankton community. In spring and early summer 2003, grazing by microand mesozooplankton on phytoplankton was investigated at three sites in the upper Schelde estuary. Grazing by mesozoopla...

Phytoplankton are the base of the Antarctic food web, sustain the wealth and diversity of life for which Antarctica is renowned, and play a critical role in biogeochemical cycles that mediate global climate. Over the vast expanse of the Southern Ocean (SO), the climate is variously predicted to experience increased warming, strengthening wind, acidification, shallowingmixed layer depths, increa...

In order to understand how ocean acidification (OA) and enhanced irradiance levels might alter phytoplankton eco-physiology, productivity and species composition, we conducted an incubation experiment with a natural plankton assemblage from subsurface Subarctic waters (Davis Strait, 63N). The phytoplankton assemblage was exposed to 380 and 1,000 μatm pCO2 at both 15 and 35% surface irradiance o...

The carotenoid astaxanthin is a powerful antioxidant and a compound of vital importance for many marine organisms such as crustaceans and salmonids. Although astaxanthin deficiency may have serious consequences for ecosystem functioning, its origin and transfer in the food web have been little studied. Astaxanthin is produced by planktonic crustaceans, but these cannot synthesise carotenoid pig...

Diversity of primary producer is often surprisingly high, despite few limiting factors such as nutrients and light to facilitate species coexistence. In theory, the presence of herbivores could increase the diversity of primary producers, resolving this "paradox of the plankton." Little experimental evidence supports this natural enemies hypothesis, but previous tests suffer from several defici...

This study was carried out in order to investigate the spatial variation of algal toxin (microcystin) concentrations along the shoreline of Lake Victoria. A total of 16 nearshore stations differing in connectivity to the main lake basin were categorized as either closed bays (ratio of bay area to bay opening < 1) or open bays (ratio ≥ 1) and sampled during November and December 2009. Water samp...

Nitrogen availability and form are important controls on estuarine phytoplankton growth. This study experimentally determined the influence of urea and nitrate additions on phytoplankton growth throughout the growing season (March 2012, June 2011, August 2011) in a temperate, eutrophied estuary (Neuse River Estuary, North Carolina, USA). Photopigments (chlorophyll a and diagnostic photopigments...

We examined the effects of anthropogenic and climatic perturbations on nutrient–phytoplankton interactions and eutrophication in the waters of the largest estuarine systems in the U.S.A., the Chesapeake Bay (CB), Maryland/ Virginia, and the Neuse River Estuary/Pamlico Sound (NRE/PS) system, North Carolina. Both systems have experienced large post-World War II increases in nitrogen (N) and phosp...

The spatial and temporal variation of SOL cluster bacteria was assessed in oligomesotrophic Lake Mondsee and adjacent lakes by fluorescence in situ hybridization over two annual cycles. The filamentous SOL bacteria were present in Lake Mondsee throughout the study period, and the seasonal dynamics of the SOL community were remarkably similar with respect to both abundance and composition in the...