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JPR Advance Access originally published online on February 25, 2005
Journal of Plankton Research 2005 27(4):313-321; doi:10.1093/plankt/fbi011
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Journal of Plankton Research Vol. 27 No. 4 © Oxford University Press 2005; all rights reserved

HORIZONS

Phytoplankton blooms: a ‘loophole’ in microzooplankton grazing impact?

X. Irigoien1,*, K. J. Flynn2 and R. P. Harris3

1 AZTI, Herrera Kaia portualdea Z/G, 20110 Pasaia, Guipúzcoa, Spain, 2 Institute for Environmental Sustainability, University of Wales Swansea, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK and 3 Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, Plymouth PL1 3DH, UK

* Corresponding Author: xirigoien{at}pas.azti.es

Received November 23, 2004; accepted in principle February 12, 2005; accepted for publication February 21, 2005; published online February 25, 2005

Phytoplankton size and relations between phytoplankton and microzooplankton (ciliates and heterotrophic dinoflagellates) biomass are analysed in 12 globally distributed areas. In view of the results, a hypothesis is posed where blooming species are those able to escape control by microzooplankton through a combination of predation avoidance mechanisms (e.g. larger size, colonies, spines, and toxic compounds) at the beginning of the bloom. Factors that help to enhance subsequent bloom development include positive feedback from the poor nutritional status of the phototrophic prey which adversely affects predation, inter-microzooplankton grazing and top–down grazing by mesozooplankton on microzooplankton. Blooming conditions are interpreted as physical or chemical perturbations disrupting the predator–prey controls that normally operate at the level of the microbial loop, opening ‘loopholes’ into which some phytoplankton species populations can explode.


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