Plankton community composition in relation to availability and uptake of oxidized and reduced nitrogen

Centre de Recherche en Ecologie Marine et Aquaculture de L'Houmeau (CNRS-IFREMER), BP 5, 17137 L'Houmeau, France ABSTRACT: Trends in nitrogen utilization, determined with 15 N-labeled substrates, were related to blooms of distinct phytoplankton groups in the Gulf of Riga, Baltic Sea, during May, June and July 1999. The dominant phytoplankton groups included diatoms, cryptophytes, dinoflagellates, and fila- mentous cyanobacteria. As the water column became progressively more stratified over the growing season, diatoms comprised a smaller proportion of the total phytoplankton assemblage and almost disappeared by late summer. Their disappearance correlated with undetectable surface-water nitra…