Seasonal studies on the phytoplankton and primary production in the inner Firth of Clyde

Abstract

SynopsisAnalysis of the factors influencing the seasonal changes in biomass of the ‘net’ phytoplankton in 1972– 73 snowed that the dynamics of the spring waxing of the diatom populations were controlled by narrow ‘windows’ of climatic events, and that subsequent fluctuations in cell numbers were linked with the interplay between zooplankton grazing and wind induced dispersion. Data for 1976–77, set against a similar background of events with the ‘net’ plankton, showed that the nanophytoplankton constituted a less variable biomass through the seasons and, on an annual basis, contributed some 50% of the total carbon fixed.