Nutrients and Light as Factors Controlling Phytoplankton Biomass on the DutchContinental Shelf (North Sea) in 1988-1990

摘要

In the last fifty years the riverine phosphorus and nitrogen loads dischargedinto the North Sea have increased considerably. Extensive oxygen deficiencies in the German Bight and the increase in phytoplankton and shifts in its species composition have been attributed to eutrophication. From 1988-1990 the effects of eutrophication on the oxygen economy, primary production, phytoplankton species composition, biomass and the principal limiting factors throughout the North Sea were studied in the EUZOUT project. The data generated in this project were used for the report. The report describes the results of methods for the detection of nutrient stress to samples taken from the coastal and central North Sea in 1988, 1989 and 1990 during the EUZOUT project.