Nutrient Driven Shifts in the Plankton Communities in Possession Sound
Presentation Abstract
Within Puget Sound there has been a nutrient shift that is hypothesized to impact diatom abundance throughout the Sound. The Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) has been monitoring this shift through the long-term collection of nutrient data from many locations in Puget Sound. Monthly aerial surveys are reported through Eyes Over Puget Sound (EOPS), monitoring phytoplankton blooms throughout the Puget Sound region. Beginning in 2008, the DOE recorded a disparity between the nutrient data collected in Puget Sound and the nutrient data collected in Possession Sound, an estuarine system in the Northeast arm of the Whidbey Basin in Puget Sound. Students at the Ocean Research College Academy, an early college program through Everett Community College have been conducting baseline estuarine monitoring for the past six years. In order to assess the impact of the nutrient shift in Possession Sound, the five most prominent phytoplankton and zooplankton species from monthly State of Possession Sound (SOPS) research cruises conducted over the past six years were analyzed with an overlay of nutrient data from the same time period. This research evolved through the question of whether a shift from diatom-based food webs to dinoflagellate predominant food webs will emerge in the data specifically from Possession Sound, as it did in the DOE data collected from Puget Sound. The working hypothesis is that when silicate levels decline, diatomaceous phytoplankton are limited by the lack of silicate in the water. Plankton results from each cruise are analyzed for spatial and temporal distribution and correlated to seasonal nutrient data. Preliminary results suggest a shift in the phytoplankton assemblage.
Session Title
Session S-01D: Pelagic Ecology in the Salish Sea I
Conference Track
Species and Food Webs
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2014 : Seattle, Wash.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
1-5-2014 5:00 PM
End Date
1-5-2014 6:30 PM
Location
Room 6C
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Plankton populations--Washington (State)--Possession Sound; Nutrient cycles--Washington (State)--Possession Sound
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Possession Sound (Wash.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Nutrient Driven Shifts in the Plankton Communities in Possession Sound
Room 6C
Within Puget Sound there has been a nutrient shift that is hypothesized to impact diatom abundance throughout the Sound. The Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) has been monitoring this shift through the long-term collection of nutrient data from many locations in Puget Sound. Monthly aerial surveys are reported through Eyes Over Puget Sound (EOPS), monitoring phytoplankton blooms throughout the Puget Sound region. Beginning in 2008, the DOE recorded a disparity between the nutrient data collected in Puget Sound and the nutrient data collected in Possession Sound, an estuarine system in the Northeast arm of the Whidbey Basin in Puget Sound. Students at the Ocean Research College Academy, an early college program through Everett Community College have been conducting baseline estuarine monitoring for the past six years. In order to assess the impact of the nutrient shift in Possession Sound, the five most prominent phytoplankton and zooplankton species from monthly State of Possession Sound (SOPS) research cruises conducted over the past six years were analyzed with an overlay of nutrient data from the same time period. This research evolved through the question of whether a shift from diatom-based food webs to dinoflagellate predominant food webs will emerge in the data specifically from Possession Sound, as it did in the DOE data collected from Puget Sound. The working hypothesis is that when silicate levels decline, diatomaceous phytoplankton are limited by the lack of silicate in the water. Plankton results from each cruise are analyzed for spatial and temporal distribution and correlated to seasonal nutrient data. Preliminary results suggest a shift in the phytoplankton assemblage.
