Phytoplankton biomass and community composition in three Texas estuaries differing in freshwater inflow regime

Because many estuaries worldwide are experiencing large-scale alterations in freshwater inflows due to climatic and human influences on watersheds, it is critical to understand ecosystem-level responses to freshwater inflow conditions and variability. This study compared environmental conditions and...

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Published in:Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science
Main Authors: Chin, Tiffany, Beecraft, Laura, Wetz, Michael
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1969.6/95085
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2022.108059
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spelling fttexasamucorpus:oai:tamucc-ir.tdl.org:1969.6/95085 2023-10-25T01:36:52+02:00 Phytoplankton biomass and community composition in three Texas estuaries differing in freshwater inflow regime Chin, Tiffany Beecraft, Laura Wetz, Michael 2022-10-31 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/1969.6/95085 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2022.108059 en_US eng Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science Chin, T., L. Beecraft, and M. Wetz. 2022. Phytoplankton biomass and community composition in three Texas estuaries differing in freshwater inflow regime. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 277: 108059 https://hdl.handle.net/1969.6/95085 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2022.108059 Article 2022 fttexasamucorpus https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2022.108059 2023-09-25T10:20:53Z Because many estuaries worldwide are experiencing large-scale alterations in freshwater inflows due to climatic and human influences on watersheds, it is critical to understand ecosystem-level responses to freshwater inflow conditions and variability. This study compared environmental conditions and phytoplankton biomass/community composition among three Texas estuaries with differing freshwater inflow regimes to understand the impacts of freshwater inflow magnitude on phytoplankton communities. It was hypothesized that: 1) nutrient concentrations and phytoplankton biomass would be highest in San Antonio Bay (SA), the high inflow estuary and lower in Nueces-Corpus Christi Bay (NC) and Baffin Bay (BB) due to lower average inflows, and 2) the phytoplankton community would be dominated by large and/or fast-growing taxa in SA, with a greater fraction of small and/or slow-growing taxa in NC and BB. Highest inorganic nutrient concentrations were generally observed in SA, while high organic nutrient concentrations were found in BB. Chlorophyll a was relatively high in both SA and BB (mean 16.9–18.5 μg L−1) while phytoplankton biovolume was highest in BB. Despite distinct freshwater inflow, salinity and nutrient regimes, differences in phytoplankton community composition were less pronounced. Nano- or microplankton were the dominant size class of phytoplankton in each system, and diatoms were the dominant functional group, accounting for 27–49% of total biovolume on average. There were indications that the phytoplankton community was more diverse in SA, especially following inflow events, providing evidence that inflow may act as a disturbance that leads to greater phytoplankton diversity. Results from this study also showed that while freshwater inflow is important for nutrient delivery, low inflow estuaries such as BB are still susceptible to effects of eutrophication due to long residence times and nutrient retention/recycling. Overall, the differing responses of each of these ecosystems to freshwater inflow ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Baffin Bay Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi: DSpace Repository Baffin Bay Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 277 108059
institution Open Polar
collection Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi: DSpace Repository
op_collection_id fttexasamucorpus
language English
description Because many estuaries worldwide are experiencing large-scale alterations in freshwater inflows due to climatic and human influences on watersheds, it is critical to understand ecosystem-level responses to freshwater inflow conditions and variability. This study compared environmental conditions and phytoplankton biomass/community composition among three Texas estuaries with differing freshwater inflow regimes to understand the impacts of freshwater inflow magnitude on phytoplankton communities. It was hypothesized that: 1) nutrient concentrations and phytoplankton biomass would be highest in San Antonio Bay (SA), the high inflow estuary and lower in Nueces-Corpus Christi Bay (NC) and Baffin Bay (BB) due to lower average inflows, and 2) the phytoplankton community would be dominated by large and/or fast-growing taxa in SA, with a greater fraction of small and/or slow-growing taxa in NC and BB. Highest inorganic nutrient concentrations were generally observed in SA, while high organic nutrient concentrations were found in BB. Chlorophyll a was relatively high in both SA and BB (mean 16.9–18.5 μg L−1) while phytoplankton biovolume was highest in BB. Despite distinct freshwater inflow, salinity and nutrient regimes, differences in phytoplankton community composition were less pronounced. Nano- or microplankton were the dominant size class of phytoplankton in each system, and diatoms were the dominant functional group, accounting for 27–49% of total biovolume on average. There were indications that the phytoplankton community was more diverse in SA, especially following inflow events, providing evidence that inflow may act as a disturbance that leads to greater phytoplankton diversity. Results from this study also showed that while freshwater inflow is important for nutrient delivery, low inflow estuaries such as BB are still susceptible to effects of eutrophication due to long residence times and nutrient retention/recycling. Overall, the differing responses of each of these ecosystems to freshwater inflow ...
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Chin, Tiffany
Beecraft, Laura
Wetz, Michael
spellingShingle Chin, Tiffany
Beecraft, Laura
Wetz, Michael
Phytoplankton biomass and community composition in three Texas estuaries differing in freshwater inflow regime
author_facet Chin, Tiffany
Beecraft, Laura
Wetz, Michael
author_sort Chin, Tiffany
title Phytoplankton biomass and community composition in three Texas estuaries differing in freshwater inflow regime
title_short Phytoplankton biomass and community composition in three Texas estuaries differing in freshwater inflow regime
title_full Phytoplankton biomass and community composition in three Texas estuaries differing in freshwater inflow regime
title_fullStr Phytoplankton biomass and community composition in three Texas estuaries differing in freshwater inflow regime
title_full_unstemmed Phytoplankton biomass and community composition in three Texas estuaries differing in freshwater inflow regime
title_sort phytoplankton biomass and community composition in three texas estuaries differing in freshwater inflow regime
publisher Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science
publishDate 2022
url https://hdl.handle.net/1969.6/95085
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2022.108059
geographic Baffin Bay
geographic_facet Baffin Bay
genre Baffin Bay
genre_facet Baffin Bay
op_relation Chin, T., L. Beecraft, and M. Wetz. 2022. Phytoplankton biomass and community composition in three Texas estuaries differing in freshwater inflow regime. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 277: 108059
https://hdl.handle.net/1969.6/95085
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2022.108059
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2022.108059
container_title Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science
container_volume 277
container_start_page 108059
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