Skip Navigation


JPR Advance Access originally published online on November 26, 2008
Journal of Plankton Research 2009 31(3):301-309; doi:10.1093/plankt/fbn114
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
31/3/301    most recent
fbn114v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Michaloudi, E.
Right arrow Articles by Pantelidakis, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Michaloudi, E.
Right arrow Articles by Pantelidakis, K.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Plankton community structure during an ecosystem disruptive algal bloom of Prymnesium parvum

Evangelia Michaloudi1,*, Maria Moustaka-Gouni2, Spyros Gkelis2 and Kimon Pantelidakis1,2

1 Laboratory of Ichthyology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece 2 Department of Botany, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece

* CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: tholi{at}bio.auth.gr

Received on August 22, 2008; accepted on November 4, 2008


  Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to study the plankton food web structure in Lake Koronia during an extremely dense bloom of Prymnesium parvum. The Prymnesium bloom fulfilled the main criteria of an ecosystem disruptive algal bloom, since it was a massive persistent, monospecific bloom which disrupted the dynamics of the plankton community. It appeared after an N-fixing cyanobacterial bloom, when a decrease in temperature and low nitrogen conditions may have caused a positive feedback, which allowed the replacement of cyanobacteria by the invasive Prymnesium. The initiation of the bloom was further facilitated by the disruption of zooplankton grazing, with the biomass of the primary grazers, rotifers and cladocerans, dropping to undetectable levels. Furthermore, the rest of the phytoplankton responded to the onset of the bloom by an 82% decrease. Cyanobacteria and diatoms exhibited the highest decrease in biomass (95 and 99%, respectively) followed by chlorophytes (55% decrease). This enabled the uncontrolled increase of the P. parvum population to numbers close to the highest abundance ever recorded. At that point, the grazing community was reinstated and the system became replete with nutrients with an N:P ratio of 10:1. This coincided with the beginning of the bloom termination, which was followed by an increase in the biomass of competing phytoplankton.

Corresponding editor: William Li


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.