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The Phytoplankton Production Cycle in Belfast Lough

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

James G. Parker ,
R. S. Rosell  and
K. C. MacOscar
James G. Parker
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries Research Laboratory, 38 Castleroe Road, Coleraine, N. Ireland
R. S. Rosell
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries Research Laboratory, 38 Castleroe Road, Coleraine, N. Ireland
K. C. MacOscar
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries Research Laboratory, 38 Castleroe Road, Coleraine, N. Ireland
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Extract

Spring and autumn phytoplankton blooms are characteristic of those temperate marine waters where thermal stratification occurs during the summer months (e.g. Raymont, 1976). However, in well-mixed coastal waters the phytoplankton production cycle may consist of a single peak of growth during the summer (Boalch, Harbour & Butler, 1978; Wafar, Le Carre & Birrien, 1983). In a recent paper, Brander & Dickson (1984) considered evidence from the Irish Sea continuous plankton recorder which reflects the phytoplankton growth cycle largely in the well-mixed areas of the sea. These data suggested a single late peak of production, in contrast to the bimodal blooms which are known to develop in the stratified areas of the Irish Sea (Burrows & Sharpies, 1973; Slinn, 1974). The purpose of the present work was to establish the production cycle for Belfast Lough, which lies adjacent to the North Channel, an area of strong tidal mixing which forms the northerly exit for water from the Irish Sea (Lee & Ramster, 1981; Howarth, 1984). There have been no previous measurements of primary production in Belfast Lough. There was considerable interest in this topic in the early years of this century when the Royal Commission on Sewage Treatment (1908) heard evidence that nutrient inputs from sewers into the lough resulted in excessive growth of the green alga Ulva, which caused a nuisance as it decayed around the shores. Although there have been no recent reports of this phenomenon, several sewage works continue to discharge partially treated effluent to the lough. An aim of this work was therefore to assess the role of anthropogenic nutrient inputs upon phytoplankton growth.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 68 , Issue 4 , November 1988 , pp. 555 - 564
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1988

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References

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