Department of Biology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA 70503, USA.
Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2022 Feb;175:113344. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.113344. Epub 2022 Feb 3.
Louisiana estuaries are important habitats in the northern Gulf of Mexico, a region undergoing significant and sustained human- and climate-driven changes. This paper synthesizes data collected over multiple years from four Louisiana estuaries - Breton Sound, Terrebonne Bay, the Atchafalaya River Delta Estuary, and Vermilion Bay - to characterize trends in phytoplankton biomass, community composition, and the environmental factors influencing them. Results highlight similarities in timing and composition of maximum chlorophyll, with salinity variability often explaining biomass trends. Distinct drivers for biomass versus community structure were observed in all four estuarine systems. Systems shared a lack of significant correlation between river discharge and overall phytoplankton biomass, while discharge was important for understanding community composition. Temperature was a significant explanatory variable for both biomass and community composition in only one system. These results provide a regional view of phytoplankton dynamics in Louisiana estuaries critical to understanding and predicting the effects of ongoing change.
路易斯安那州的河口是墨西哥湾北部的重要栖息地，该地区正在经历重大且持续的人为和气候驱动的变化。本文综合了多年来从路易斯安那州的四个河口——布雷顿湾、特雷邦湾、阿查法拉亚河三角洲河口和弗米利恩湾——收集的数据，以描述浮游植物生物量、群落组成以及影响它们的环境因素的趋势。结果突出了最大叶绿素时间和组成的相似性，盐度变化通常解释了生物量趋势。在所有四个河口系统中都观察到了生物量与群落结构的不同驱动因素。这些系统共同缺乏河流流量与浮游植物总生物量之间的显著相关性，而流量对于理解群落组成很重要。在只有一个系统中，温度对生物量和群落组成都是一个重要的解释变量。这些结果提供了路易斯安那州河口浮游植物动态的区域观点，对于理解和预测正在发生的变化的影响至关重要。
