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.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Braek, G. S., Jensen, A. & Mohus, A. 1976. Heavy metal tolerance of marine phytoplankon. III. Combined effects of copper and zinc ions on cultures of four common species. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 25: 37–50.
Cairns, J. Jr., Lanza, G. R. & Parker, B. C. 1972. Pollution related structural and functional in aquatic communities with emphasis on freshwater algae and protozoa. Proc. of Acad. of Nat. Sci. of Phil., 124: 79–127.
Curl, H. Jr. & McLeod, G. C. 1961. The physiological ecology of a marine diatom, Skeletonema costatum (Grev.) Cleve. J. Mar. Sci. 19: 70–88.
Fager, E. W. 1957. Determination and analysis of recurrent groups. Ecology 38: 586–95.
Holling, C. S. 1973. Resilience and stability of ecological systems. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 4: 1–23.
Hutchinson, K. 1970. A test for comparing diversities based on the Shannon formula. J. Theoret. Biol. 29: 151–54.
Hutchinson, G. E. 1961. The paradox of the plankton. Amer. Nat. 95: 137–45.
Jensen, A., Rystad, B. & Melsom, S. 1974. Heavy metal tolerance of marine phytoplankton. I. The tolerance of three algal species to zinc in coastal sea water. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 15: 145–57.
Lanza, G. R. & Cairns, J. Jr. 1972. Physio-morphological effects of abrupt thermal stress on diatoms. Trans. Amer. Micros. Soc. 91: 276–98.
Lee, J. J., McEnery, M. E., Kennedy, E. M. & Rubin, H. 1975. A nutrional analysis of a sublittoral diatom assemblage epiphytic on Entormorpha from a Long Island salt marsh. J. Phycol. 2: 14–49.
Lee, J. J. & Muller, W. A. 1973. Trophic dynamics and niches of salt marsh foraminifera. Amer. Zool. 13: 215–23.
Levins, R. 1968. Evolutiion in changing environments. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 120 pp.
Lewin, J. & Hellebust, J. A. 1970. Heterotrophic nutrition of the marine pennate diatom, Cylindrotheca fusiformis. Can. J. Microbiol. 6: 127–34.
Lewin, J. & Lewin, R. A. 1960. Auxtrotrophy and heterotrophy in marine littoral diatoms. Can. J. Microbiol. 6: 127–34.
Lewin, J. & Lewin, R. A. 1967. Culture and nutrition of some apochlorotic diatoms of the genus Nitzschia. J. Gen. Microbiol. 46: 361–7.
Lewontin, R. C. 1969. The meaning of stability. Brookhaven Symp. Biol. 22: 13–24.
Margalef, R. 1963. On certain unifying principles in ecology. Amer. Nat. 897: 357–74.
Margalef, R. 1968. Perspectives in ecological theory. The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London, 111 pp.
Margalef, R. 1969. Diversity and stability: a practical proposal and a model of interdependence. Brookhaven Symp. Biol. 22: 35–37.
May, R. M. 1971. Stability in model ecosystems. Proc. Ecol. Soc. Australia 6: 18–56.
May, R. M. 1972. Stability and complexity in model ecosystems, Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, 233 pp.
May, R. M. 1973. Stability in randomly fluctuating versus deterministic environments. Amer. Nat. 107: 621–50.
McIntire, C. D. 1973. Diatom associations in Yaquina Estuary, Oregon: a multivariate analysis. J. Phycol. 9: 254–59.
McIntire, C. D. & Overton, W. S. 1971. Distributional patterns in assemblages of attached diatoms from Yaquina Estuary, Oregon, Ecology 52: 758–77.
McIntire, C. D. & Wulff, B. L. 1969. A laboratory method for the study of marine benthic diatoms. Limnol. Oceanogr. 14: 667–78.
Patrick, R. 1954. Diatoms as an indication of a river change. Proc. 9th Indus. Waste Conf., Purdue Univ. Engin. Bull. No. 87: 325–30.
Patrick, R. 1956 Diatoms as an indicators of changes in environmental conditions. In C. M. Tarzwell (ed.), Biological problems in water pollution. Robert A. Taft Sanitary Engineering Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, 71–83.
Patrick, R. 1963. The structure of diatom communities under varying ecological conditions. Conf. on the problems of environmental control on the morphology of fossil and recent protobionta. N. Y. Acad. Sci., 108: 359–65.
Patrick, R. 1968. Aquatic communities and the problems of water quality. General Systems 13: 125–27.
Patrick, R. & Hohn, M. H. 1956. The diatometer-a method for indicating the conditions of aquatic life. Proc. Amer. Petroleum Inst., Section III, Refining, 36: 332–39.
Patrick, R., Hohn, M. H. & Wallace, J. H. 1954. A new method for determining the pattern of the diatom flora. Not. Nat. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, No. 259: 12pp.
Patrick, R. & Strawbridge, D. 1963. Methods of studying diatom populations. J. Water Poll. Control Fed. 25: 151–61.
Pianka, E. R. 1966. Latitudinal gradients in species diversity: a review of concepts. Amer. Nat. 100: 33–46.
Pielou, E. C. 1969. An introduction to mathematical ecology. Wiley-Interscience, New York, 286 pp.
Prouse, N. J., Gordon, D. C. Jr. & Keizer, P. D. 1976. Effects of low concentration of oil accommodated in sea water on the growth of unialgal marine phytoplankton cultures. J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 33: 810–18.
Reimer, C. W. 1962. Environmental requirements of plankton algae and their effects on water quality. In: Biological Problems in Water Pollution, Third Seminar, 19–28.
Rosko, J. J. & Rachlin, J. W. 1975. The effect of copper, zinc, cobalt and manganese on the growth of the marine diatom Nitzschia closterium. Bull. of Torrey Bot. Club 102: 100–06.
Rubin, H. A. & Lee, J. J. 1976. Informational energy flow as an aspect of the ecological efficiency of marine ciliates. J. Theor. Biol. 62: 69–91.
Ruthven, J. A. & Cairns, J. Jr. 1973. Response of fresh-water protozoan artificial communities to metals. J. of Protzool. 20: 127–35.
Shannon, C. E. & Weaver, W. 1963. The mathematical theory of communication. University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 117 pp.
Steele, J. H. 1974. The structure of marine ecosystems. Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, 128 pp.
Stockner, J. G. & Anita, N. J. 1976. Phytoplankton adaptation to environmental stresses from toxicants, nutrients, and pollutants— a warning. J. Fish. Res. Board. Can. 33: 2089–95.
Sullivan, M. J. 1975. Diatom communities from a Delaware salt marsh. J. Phycol. 11: 384–90.
Sunda, W. & Guillard, R. R. L. The relationship between cupric ion activity and the toxicity of copper to phytoplankton. J. Mar. Res. 34: 511–29.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
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.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
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
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00020877