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The potential effects of energy related activities on the seasonal trajectories of epiphytic marine diatoms

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Abstract

Seasonal successional trajectories of transplanted and experimental diatom communities were studied during the summer of 1973. Manipulation of these diatom assemblages was accomplished through the development of an in situ experimental apparatus capable of incubating these organisms without doing violence to the community itself.

In one set of experiments the effects of water quality were tested on the development of inocula from grossly similar but fairly distant locations. In another set the native inoculum was incubated in the continual presence of Fe, Cu, Cr, Pb, Zn and crude oil. Seasonal succession took place in all of the control and experimental communities. During the course of succession the trajectories of assemblages under some conditions converged while others diverged. Since the random fluctuations in the environment were constant for all assemblages, the abundances of individual species were due to niche packing and interspecific restraints on the biotic potential of selected diatom species as well as the changes in water quality. The most diverse community was an experimentally mixed one. The high diversity of this community was probably due to niche packing a phenomenon which restricted the realized niches of many species and hindered their blooming. Paradoxically twice as many species (40%) had their greatest niche breadth in the mixed community as did species in the transplanted (∼20%) or native controls (17%). Enrichment of the incubation medium with heavy metals and oil altered the community structure and diversity of most experimental vessels. Growth of some species was depressed while that of others was enhanced. The trajectories of the communities enriched with oil and Pb were quite similar throughout the summer. The Cu and Cr assemblages initially followed the trajectory of oil and Pb but later diverged. Greatest species diversity was consistantly found in the community incubated in the presence of Cu. The Fe enriched community generally diverged from all the others. Recurrent group analysis identified distinctive groups of species for each of the experimental assemblages as well as controls.

The response of these diatom communities incubated under natural conditions were characteristic of resilient communities in which populations with different structures were quickly established.

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Author notes

  1. Gregory F. Coccetti

    Present address: , 64 Sagamore Road, 10708, Bronxville, NY

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, City College of C.U.N.Y., Convent Avenue at 138 St., 10031, New York, N.Y.

    Gregory F. Coccetti & John J. Lee

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  1. Gregory F. Coccetti
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  2. John J. Lee
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Additional information

Supported by ERDA Contract E (11-1) 3254, Reference Number (COO) 3254-28. The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Howard Rubin for his assistance in writing the many computer programs used in this investigation.

This paper represents a revised expansion of a thesis project accepted by the CCNY Biology Faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the M.A. degree in September 1976.

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Coccetti, G.F., Lee, J.J. The potential effects of energy related activities on the seasonal trajectories of epiphytic marine diatoms. Hydrobiologia 67, 51–80 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00020877

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