Journal of Plankton Research Vol.23 no.8 pp.893-902, 2001
© Oxford University Press 2001
SHORT COMMUNICATION |
Pigment signatures reveal temporal and regional differences in taxonomic phytoplankton composition off the west coast of Ireland
1 School Of Ocean And Earth Science, Southampton Oceanography Centre, European Way, Southampton So14 3zh, Uk, 2 Martin Ryan Institute, University College Galway, Galway, Ireland, 3 Maritime Faculty, Southampton Institute, East Park Terrace, Southampton, So14 0yn, Uk, 4 Institute Of Oceanology, Polish Academy Of Sciences, UL.Powstancow Warszawy 55, 81-712, Sopot, Poland
5 Present Address: Middle East Technical University, Institute Of Marine Sciences, P.O.Box 28, 33731 Erdemli-Icel, Turkey
The composition of phytoplankton assemblages in April, 1998 in Galway Bay and during a summer phytoplankton bloom occurring southwest of Ireland in August, 1998, was characterized by pigments measured by high-performance liquid chromatography. Pigment data reflecting phytoplankton assemblages dominated by diatoms in Galway Bay and dinoflagellates in the southwest of Ireland were compared to phytoplankton cell counts. Significant relationships were found between the fucoxanthin concentrations and the diatom cell numbers (P < 0.0002 r2 0.63) during April, and between fucoxanthin (P < 0.0001 r2 0.79), 19'hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin (P < 0.0001 r2 0.77) concentrations and Gyrodinium aureolum cell numbers during the summer bloom.