Abstract
Due to the close proximity of the Bay of Bengal and the freshwater inflow of Bhagirathi–Hooghly, Diamond Harbour appeared as an important coastal station of the Bhagirathi–Hooghly estuary. The spatial and temporal composition and abundance of microphytoplankton species was examined in relation to physical and chemical surface water variables (i.e., salinity, nutrient, and temperature).The primary objective of the study was to observe the variations in phytoplankton species assemblages as a response to environmental variables. Hierarchical cluster analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling were used to find out distinct seasonal groups based on the composition of phytoplankton. The results indicate that several key environmental factors like temperature, DIN content, and molar ratio of nutrients like DIN–DIP and DIN–DSi influenced seasonal phytoplankton assemblages within the estuary. The distribution of phytoplankton population showed two main groups where the blue-green and green algal populations favored the warmer conditions of summer and monsoon months, whereas the diatom population primarily flourished in the cooler months of autumn and winter.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
APHA (1998). Standard methods for the examination ofwater and wastewater (20th ed.). APHA-AWWA-WPCF, Washington DC.
Ayukai, T. (1992). Picoplankton dynamics in Davies Reef lagoon, the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Journal of Plankton Research, 14, 1593–1606.
Badylak, S., & Phlips, E. J. (2004). Spatial and temporal patterns of phytoplankton composition in a subtropical lagoon, the Indian River Lagoon, Florida, USA. Journal of Plankton Research, 26, 1229–1247.
Caroppo, C. (2000). The contribution of picoplankton to community structure in a Mediterranean brackish environment. Journal of Plankton Research, 22, 381–397.
Choudhury, A. K., & Pal, R. (2008). Diversity of planktonic diatoms from West-Bengal coast with special reference to taxonomic accounts. Phytomorphology, 58(1 and 2), 29–42.
Choudhury, A. K., & Pal, R. (2010). Phytoplankton and nutrient dynamics of shallow coastal stations at Bay of Bengal, Eastern Indian coast. Aquatic Ecology, 44(1), 55–71.
Cupp, E. E. (1943). Marine plankton diatoms of the west coast of North America (pp. 1–237). Bull Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Curl, H. C., Jr. (1959). The phytoplankton of Apalachee Bay and the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico (Vol. 6, pp. 311–320). Publications of the Institute of Marine Sciences, University of Texas.
de Jonge, V. N., & van Beusekom, J. E. E. (1995). Wind- and tide-induced resuspension of sediment and microphytobenthos from tidal flats in the Ems Estuary. Limnology and Oceanography, 40, 766–778.
Desikachary, T. V. (1987). Cyanophyta. IARI, New Delhi, India.
Gopalakrishna, V. V., & Sastry, J. S. (1985). Surface circulation over the shelf off the coast of India during the southwest monsoon. Indian Journal of Marine Sciences, 14, 62–66.
Hecky, R. E., & Kilham, P. (1988). Nutrient limitation of phytoplankton in freshwater and marine environments: A review of recent evidence on the effects of enrichment. Limnology and Oceanography, 33(4, part 2), 796–822.
James, F. C., & McCulloch, C. E. (1990). Multivariate analysis in ecology and systematics: Panacea or pandora’s box? Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 21, 129–166.
Legendre, P., & Legendre, L. (1998). Numerical ecology (pp. 1–853). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science BV.
Levine, S. N. (1983). Natural mechanisms that ameliorate nitrogen shortages in lakes (pp. 1–354) Ph.D thesis, University of Manitoba.
Livingston, R. J. (Ed.) (2001). Eutrophication processes in coastal systems. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
Mallin, M. A. (1994). Phytoplankton ecology of North Carolina estuaries. Estuaries, 17, 561–574.
Margelef, R. (1978). Life forms of phytoplankton as survival alternatives in an unstable environment. Oceanologica Acta, 1, 493–509.
Mukhopadhyay, S. K. (2007). The Hooghly estuarine system, NE Coast of Bay of Bengal, India. Workshop on Indian Estuaries, NIO, Goa, India.
Mukhopadhyay, A., & Pal, R. (2002). A biodiversity of algae from coastal West-Bengal (south and north-24 parganas) and their cultural behaviour in relation to mass cultivation programme. Indian Hydrobiology, 5(2), 85–97.
Orlocci, L. (1966). Geometric models in ecology. I. The theory and application of some ordination methods. Journal of Ecology, 54, 193–215.
Phlips, E. J., et al. (2002). Factors affecting the abundance of phytoplankton in a restricted subtropical lagoon, the Indian River Lagoon, Florida, USA. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 55, 385–402.
Phlips, E. J., et al. (2006). Factors influencing the distribution and abundance of Pyrodinium bahamense in coastal ecosystems of Florida. Marine Ecology. Progress Series, 322, 99–115.
Prescott, G. W. (1962). Algae of the Western Great Lakes area (2nd ed.). Wm Brown Co., Dubuque, Iowa.
Quilan, E. L., & Phlips, E. J. (2007). Phytoplankton assemblages across the marine to low-salinity transition zone in a blackwater dominated estuary. Journal of Plankton Research, 29(5), 401–416.
Ragueneau, O., et al. (1994). Phytoplankton dynamics in relation to the biogeochemical cycle of silicon in a coastal ecosystem of Western Europe. Marine Ecology. Progress Series, 106, 157–172.
Redfield, A. C., et al. (1963). The influence of organisms on the composition of sea water. In M. N. Hill (Ed.), The sea (Vol. 11, pp. 26–77). New York: John Wiley.
Reynolds, C. S., & Smayda, T. J. (1988). Principles of species selection and community assembly in the phytoplankton: Further explorations of the Mandala. In B. Reguera, J. Blanco, M. L. Fernandez, & T. Wyatt (Eds.), Harmful algae, xunta de galicia and intergovernmental oceanographic commission of UNESCO, Paris (pp. 8–10).
Roberts, E. C., et al. (2003). Response of temperate microplankton communities to N:Si ratio perturbation. Journal of Plankton Research, 25(12), 1485–1495.
Sarkar, S. (2004). Water resource management. In The lower stretch of the River Ganges, Northeast India. BALWOIS 2004, Ohrid, FY Republic of Macedonia.
Schindler, D. W. (1981). Studies of eutrophication in lakes and their relevance to the estuarine environments. In B. J. Neilson, & L. E. Cronin (Eds.), Estuaries and nutrients (pp. 71–82). Humana.
Shannon, C. E., & Weaver, W. (1949). A mathematical theory of communication. Urbana: University Illinois Press.
Shepard, R. N. (1966). Metric structures in ordinal data. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 3, 287–315.
Smith, S. V. (1984). Phosphorus versus nitrogen limitation in the marine environment. Limnology and Oceanography, 29, 1149–1160.
Smayda, T. J. (1980). Phytoplankton species succession. In I. Morris (Ed.), The physiological ecology of phytoplankton (pp. 493–570) Oxford: Blackwell.
Subrahmanyan, R. (1946). A systematic account of the marine plankton diatoms of the Madras coast. Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences, 24B, 85–197.
Subrahmanyan, R. (1958). Phytoplankton organisms of the Arabian Sea off the west coast of India. Journal of the Indian Botanical Society, 37, 435–441.
Utermohl, H. (1958). Zur Vervollkommnung der quantitativen phytoplankton-methodik. Mitteilungen der internationale Vereinigung für theoretische und angewandte Limnologie, 9, 1–38.
Venkataraman, G. (1939). A systematic account of some South Indian diatoms. Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences, 10, 293–368.
Winkler, L. W. (1888). The determination of dissolved oxygen in water. Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft, 21, 2843.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Choudhury, A.K., Pal, R. Variations in seasonal phytoplankton assemblages as a response to environmental changes in the surface waters of a hypo saline coastal station along the Bhagirathi–Hooghly estuary. Environ Monit Assess 179, 531–553 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-010-1761-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-010-1761-4