New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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Phytoplankton distribution and oyster, Ostrea chilensis (Philippi 1845), growth at Putemún Channel, southern Chile

JORGE E. TORO
PAMELA I. PAREDES
DARIO J. VILLAGRA

Instituto de Biología Marina Dr. Jürgen Winter R.
Universidad Austral de Chile
Casilla 567, Valdivia
Chile
email: jtoro@valdivia.uca.uach.cl

Abstract  The phytoplankton community of the Putemún Channel (southern Chile) and its correlation with some environmental variables is analysed in this paper. Samples were collected on a monthly basis from May 1991 to May 1993. A total of 121 phytoplanktonic species were identified. The phytoplankton cell abundance ranged between 3.5 x 10⁴ cells/litre and 11.2 x 10⁶ cells/litre. The phytoplankton community was characterised by the dominance of diatoms. An inverse relationship between temperature and species diversity was observed. A significant correlation, after excluding tychoplanktonic benthic forms, was found between chlorophyll a, cell abundances, and temperature. The influence of biotic and abiotic variables on oyster (Ostrea chilensis (Philippi 1845)) growth was analysed. The instantaneous growth rate was found to be positively correlated with both temperature and phytoplankton abundance, whereas significant negative correlation between growth and amount of particulate inorganic matter was found.

Keywords  phytoplankton; chlorophyll a; environmental variables; ecology; oyster growth; Chile

M98048
Received 21 July 1998; accepted 15 February 1999

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (978K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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