Plankton Ecology and Biodiversity in the Bahía Blanca Estuary

Chemically unidentified dissolved organic carbon: A pivotal piece for microbial activity in a productive area of the Northern Patagonian shelf

“…Surface Chl-a followed a similar spatial pattern as silicate (r = 0.64, p = 0.03, n = 12) and temperature (r = 0.69, p = 0.01, n = 12), yet not as ammonium, which is frequently a preferential nitrogen source for phytoplankton, although nitrogen utilization depends on eutrophic conditions and microbial assemblages (Glibert et al, 2016). In the innermost zone of the Bahía Blanca Estuary, empirical studies (López Abbate et al, 2019) and sustained field observations (Berasategui et al, 2021) have shown that severe local eutrophication frequently exceeds the tolerance threshold of plankton to ammonium, and diatoms switch to nitrate uptake. Chlorophyll raised towards the mouth of the San Matías Gulf, reaching up to 3.4 μg L − 1 at station 7.…”