A Study of the Diatoms of the Ouse Estuary, Sussex III. The Seasonal Variation in the Littoral Epiphyte Flora and the Shore Plankton

Abstract

SUMMARYAnalyses have been made of some of the constituents of the coastal sea water and the river water, and the results have been correlated with the growth phases of some planktonic diatom species and littoral epiphytes, although for most species the sea-water temperature and light intensity were limiting factors.The factor determining the death of an epiphytic diatom community in the littoral zone has been considered to be the air temperature in conjunction with desiccation and a summary of the limiting temperatures for each of the four substrata is given in Table 7. Table 10 is a summary of all the distribution and temperature records. The heat itself is not lethal in many cases but the desiccation of the epiphyte in the littoral zone is accelerated at higher temperatures. Diatoms in damp situations were found to occur at temperatures which in a dry site were limiting, and further work indicating the relationship between relative humidity and lethal temperatures is needed.The ability of a diatom to survive depends upon the water-retaining ability of the substratum. Chalk and large algae favoured the growth of most solitary epiphytes, and filamentous epiphytes grew particularly well on algae except the filamentous Navicula, which were best suited by chalk. The Achnanthes blue-green community was most frequent on wood. Concrete makes a firm substratum and allows rapid growth in winter but it is easily dried and most diatoms on it are destroyed in the summer.Four diatom genera (Fragilaria, Grammatophora, Biddulphia and Melosira) are able to exist in the epiphyte flora and the shore plankton and the term facultative epiphyte is suggested to describe the behaviour of at least some of the species of these genera.