Phytoneuston Ecology of a Temperate Marine Lagoon1

Abstract

Comparison of neuston (upper 0.4 cm ) and plankton ( 10 cm deep ) water samples from a temperate marine lagoon and an adjacent, less sheltered bay indicates that: 1) the surface microlayer exhibits greater and more rapid environmental fluctuations than the subsurface water; 2 ) no abundant phytoneuston populations develop outside the lagoon; 3 ) in the main lagoon fairly abundant phytoneuston populations develop; 4) phytoneuston population are most devclopcd in the shallow sheltered pond area of the lagoon, particularly in summer; 5) taxonomic diversity is generally lower and dominance greater in well-developed phytoneuston populations than in underlying phytoplankton populations; 6) photosynthetic assimilation ratios are greater in phytoneuston than in phytoplankton populations.

SISI: A New Device for In Situ Incubations at the Ocean Surface

“…NCP rates were generally positive in 1 m and 5 m water depth incubations in the Baltic Sea assuming the presence of photosynthesizing organisms in coastal proximity. At station UP5, we even measured a positive NCP rate for the SML, which matches the observation that phytoneuston productivity can sometimes be enhanced in sheltered regions [37,38].…”

“…Furthermore, incubations using the SISI account for effects from temperature, whose fluctuations are more extreme within the SML [37], but also for impacts from solar and partial UV radiation on SML organisms [7,9]. Even if the construction of a rigid upper frame is not ideal regarding its conformation to the wave crests resulting in unwanted elevations above and submersions beneath the surface, we assume that the effects due to variations in light exposure will, on average, balance each other out.…”

The sea‐surface microlayer: Fate and residence times of atmospheric metals1

“…Biological-Neuston (organisms inhabiting the surface microlayer) is often abundant (Hardy 1973(Hardy , 1982Hardy and Apts 1984) and could affect the fate of atmospheric metals entering the microlayer. In the biotic microcosms without added APM, the mean (days 2 and 14) ratios of numbers of bacterioneuston : bacterioplankton and phytoneuston : phytoplankton were 6 10 and 878 ( Fig.…”

“…Since the microlayer is enriched in organic compounds and microorganisms relative to the subsurface water (Hardy 1973;Baier et al 1974) atmospheric metals could be retained in the microlayer either on particles or as organic complexes (Lion and Leckie 1981). In Lake Michigan, where surface-active organic material was present, atmospheric particulate matter accounted for 30-93% of the particulate zinc, 25-68% of the particulate cadmium, and 19-l 00% of the particulate copper in the microlayer (Elzerman et al 1979).…”

Haslea karadagensis(Bacillariophyta): a second blue diatom, recorded from the Black Sea and producing a novel blue pigment

“…In the northern Atlantic Ocean, 'blue diatoms' have been found in the Canary Islands (SCCAP, Gert Hansen), and different places along the North American coast, including North Carolina (Beaufort) and Rhode Island (Narragansett Bay) (Kennett & Hargraves, 1991;Gary Wickfors, personal communication); Virginia (Chesapeake Bay; Mitchell & Barney, 1918); New Jersey (Sullivan, 1977); Florida (Biscayne Bay; Julian Sprung, personal communication); and possibly in Honduras (Grunow, 1877). In the northern Pacific Ocean, H. ostrearia has been reported from the San Juan Islands, between Washington state and British Columbia (Hardy, 1973), and from Japan (Ranson, 1937). In the southern hemisphere, diatoms identified as H. ostrearia have been observed in the Indian Ocean (Simonsen, 1974), and reported from northern (Ricard, 1987), eastern (Tasmania, Volkman et al, 1994) and western Australia (Leschenault Estuary; Wasela Hosja, personal communication).…”