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Light control on phytoplankton production in a shallow and turbid estuarine system

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Abstract

Tagus estuary is one of the largest estuaries of Western Europe. With the aim of unravelling the drivers of primary production in this shallow and turbid nutrient replete estuary, we tested the hypothesis that light availability is a major factor controlling phytoplankton production. Environmental parameters, phytoplankton biomass, community composition, and photosynthetic parameters were monitored at two sites in the estuary during a complete annual cycle. Despite the fact that nutrient concentrations were always above growth-limiting values, Chl a concentrations were relatively low throughout the study period. High water column turbidity, due to riverine inputs, promoted a rapid attenuation of light and created a compressed profile with optimal photosynthetic conditions. Therefore, the phytoplankton community, dominated by small cells, such as diatoms and cryptophycean flagellates, displayed highly photosynthetic efficiency and low light-saturated photosynthetic rates as a photo-acclimation response to low light conditions year-round. Primary production rate was unimodal, peaking in the summer months. In such estuarine system, gross primary production could thus be predicted by an existing robust empirical model based on pigment standing crop (Chl a), surface irradiance (E 0) and optical depth (Z eup). Compared to other shallow estuaries, the Tagus can be classified as a low- to moderately productive estuary, being the turbidity-induced low light conditions the principal factor limiting phytoplankton growth.

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Notes

  1. The term “adaptation” is used here on a physiological level, as a phenotypic response of algae to changes in irradiance at the organism level (Falkowski & LaRoche, 1991).

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Dr. T. Platt, B. Jesus, P. Cartaxana, M.T. Cabrita and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable ideas and criticisms that greatly improved this paper during analysis of the results and writing of the paper. We also thank R. Mendes for sampling and analytical assistance. This work was funded by Valor Sul SA and FCT by means of project INTAGUS (PDCT/MAR/58022/2004). C. Gameiro was funded by a FCT PhD grant (POCI-2010/BD/13988/2003).

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  1. Centro de Oceanografia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016, Lisbon, Portugal

    Carla Gameiro & Vanda Brotas

  2. Instituto de Investigação das Pescas e do Mar (IPIMAR), Av. Brasília, 1449-006, Lisbon, Portugal

    Juan Zwolinski

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  1. Carla Gameiro
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Correspondence to Carla Gameiro.

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Gameiro, C., Zwolinski, J. & Brotas, V. Light control on phytoplankton production in a shallow and turbid estuarine system. Hydrobiologia 669, 249–263 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0695-3

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