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Microzooplankton Grazing in Green Water—Results from Two Contrasting Estuaries

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Abstract

We measured seasonal variations in microzooplankton grazing in Long Island Sound (LIS) and San Francisco Bay (SFB). There was consistent evidence of nutrient limitation in LIS, but not SFB. We found higher chlorophyll a concentrations in LIS compared with SFB. In spite of differences in phytoplankton, there were no differences in microzooplankton abundance (summer: LIS, 12.4 ± 1.8 × 103 indiv. L−1; SFB, 14.1 ± 3.0 × 103 indiv. L−1), biomass (summer: LIS, 30.4 ± 5.0 μg C L−1; SFB, 26.3 ± 5.9 μg C L−1), or grazing rates (summer: LIS, 0.66 ± 0.19 day−1; SFB, 0.65 ± 0.18 day−1) between the two estuaries. In common with many other investigators, we found many instances of saturated as well as insignificant grazing. We suggest that saturation in some cases may result from high particle loads in turbid estuarine systems and that insignificant grazing may result from extreme saturation of the grazing response due to the need to process non-food particles.

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Acknowledgments

We thank colleagues at the Romberg Tiburon Center/San Francisco State University for hosting us during the SFB experiments, especially Wim Kimmerer, Anne Slaughter, and Toni Ignoffo. Don Schoener helped with experiments in both locations, and Gary Wikfors of the NOAA Milford Laboratory kindly provided access to the flow cytometer. We also thank Penny Vlahos for sharing unpublished nutrient data from Long Island Sound. Funding was provided by the CALFED Bay-Delta Science Program (award SCI-05-C107), by the NOAA Coastal Services Center (award NA04NOS4730256), and by the University of Connecticut.

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  1. School of Marine Science and Policy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 19716, USA

    Joanna K. York

  2. Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, Groton, CT, 06340, USA

    Barbara A. Costas & George B. McManus

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  1. Joanna K. York
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Correspondence to Joanna K. York.

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York, J.K., Costas, B.A. & McManus, G.B. Microzooplankton Grazing in Green Water—Results from Two Contrasting Estuaries. Estuaries and Coasts 34, 373–385 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-010-9336-8

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