Phytoplankton Photopigments as Indicators of Estuarine and Coastal Eutrophication

Occurrence of brackish water phytoplankton species at a closed coral reef in Nansha Islands, South China Sea

“…They can respond quickly and differently to the changes in the habitats over a wide range of temporal scales from hours to even years. Consequently, microalgal functional groups or phytoplankton community can serve as indicators of the marine ecosystem conditions (Paerl et al, 2003). However, relatively few studies have focused on the phytoplankton community in coral reef ecosystem and its composition may differ from that in the adjacent ocean (van Duyl et al, 2002).…”

Planktonic and benthic microalgal community composition as indicators of terrestrial influence on a fringing reef in Ishigaki Island, Southwest Japan

“…24 On the other hand, the southern reef area can be considered more influenced by groundwater 25 discharge from the adjacent lands. The early dominance of green microalgae, cryptophytes, 26 and diatoms (to a certain extent) in the nutrient-enriched reef waters after the typhoon was 1 possibly due to the relatively efficient growth rates and enhanced uptake rates of these 2 microalgal groups (Paerl et al 2003;Delesalle et al 1993). Green microalgae and 3 cryptophytes are common in freshwater and brackish water rather than seawater.…”

Phytoplankton Community Structure Based on Photopigment Markers in a Mid-Atlantic U.S. Coastal Lagoon: Significance for Hard-Clam Production

“…Therefore, a greater proportion of DON is likely bioavailable to phytoplankton in the northern part of BB, either directly or via bacterial remineralization. Cyanobacteria and chlorophytes, generally with a wide salinity tolerance, have been associated with freshwater inputs as well as riverine sources of DON and high residence times in estuaries (Paerl et al, 2003;Pinckney et al, 1998). In northern BB, low salinities, organic N enrichment from anthropogenic sources (Hunchak-Kariouk and Nicholson, 2001;Wienben and Baker, 2009), silica limitation, and high residence times all likely play a role in sustaining the high summer concentrations of pico-chlorophytes and cyanobacteria characteristic of the IBSP study site.…”

“…Alternatives such as the analysis of phytoplankton diagnostic photopigments by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) can provide biomass estimates of various phytoplankton groups and quantify the phytoplankton composition at the class level in a relatively rapid, costeffective, and reproducible manner (Paerl et al, 2003. Microscopic analysis can also sometimes be biased, favoring large forms, as nano-(2-20 lm) and picoplankton (0.2-2 lm) are often difficult to identify and quantify using this method.…”