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1 PHYTOPLANKTON BIOMASS and COMPOSITION in APALACHICOLA BAY, a SUBTROPICAL RIVER DOMINATED ESTUARY in FLORIDA by PAULA A. VIVER

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1 PHYTOPLANKTON BIOMASS and COMPOSITION in APALACHICOLA BAY, a SUBTROPICAL RIVER DOMINATED ESTUARY in FLORIDA by PAULA A. VIVER PHYTOPLANKTON BIOMASS AND COMPOSITION IN APALACHICOLA BAY, A SUBTROPICAL RIVER DOMINATED ESTUARY IN FLORIDA By PAULA A. VIVEROS BEDOYA A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2014 1 © 2014 Paula Viveros Bedoya 2 To my beloved parents and grandparents who worked really hard so I could become the first doctor in the family. To Alejandro my daily source of motivation and inspiration. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research was supported by the NSF-SEAGEP fellowships program, a Graduate Research Fellowship from the Estuarine Reserves Division, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a Research Assistantship Match from the University of Florida, a Delores Auzenne Dissertation Award and the Supplemental Retention Award program of the Office of Graduate Minority Programs at the University of Florida. Invaluable field assistance was generously provided by personnel from the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve (ANERR). I would like to thank Nikki Dix, Loren Mathews, Bailey Trump and Ake Srifa from the Phlips Lab for their help during different stages of this research. Special thanks to Jynessa Dutka-Gianelli for her support with GIS, and Nikolay Bliznyuk for offering statistical support for this research. I would also like to thank Shirley Baker, Mark Brenner, Lee Edminston and Karl Havens for their feedback and support during the development of this research. I give special thanks to my advisor Ed Phlips for giving me this opportunity and for his constant guidance and advice. I want to express my gratitude to my family, specially my parents Tina y Julio, and my brothers Andres y Felipe for always believing in me and offering me their love. I thank my husband Luke for his patience and unconditional support through this journey and my son Alejandro for giving me additional inspiration. Thanks also to my parents-in- law Nancy y Norris for their encouragement and support. Last but not least I would like to thank my wonderful friends for helping me keep a smile and a positive attitude. Thank you all I would have not done it without you. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................... 4 LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................ 7 LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................. 9 ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................ 12 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 14 2 SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL DYNAMICS OF PHYTOPLANKTON BIOMASS AND RIVER DISCHARGE IN THE APALACHICOLA ESTUARY, FLORIDA, USA ............................................................................................................................. 18 Methods ...................................................................................................................... 19 Site Description .................................................................................................... 19 Field Procedures .................................................................................................. 20 Water Chemistry .................................................................................................. 21 Statistical Analyses .............................................................................................. 22 Results ........................................................................................................................ 22 Physical- Chemical Variables .............................................................................. 22 River discharge.............................................................................................. 22 Salinity patterns ............................................................................................. 23 Temperature .................................................................................................. 23 Nutrient patterns ............................................................................................ 24 Phytoplankton Biomass Patterns ........................................................................ 25 Changes in Phytoplankton Biomass.................................................................... 27 Discussion ................................................................................................................... 28 Salinity and Nutrient Ecoclines ............................................................................ 29 Temporal Variability in Physical and Biological Factors ..................................... 32 3 SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL PATTERNS OF PHYTOPLANKTON COMPOSITION IN A SUBTROPICAL ESTUARY, APALACHICOLA BAY, FLORIDA, USA ........................................................................................................... 57 Methods ...................................................................................................................... 58 Site Description .................................................................................................... 58 Field Procedures .................................................................................................. 59 Water Chemistry .................................................................................................. 59 Nutrient Limitation Bioassays .............................................................................. 60 Phytoplankton Analysis ........................................................................................ 61 Statistical Analyses .............................................................................................. 62 5 Results ........................................................................................................................ 63 Physical-Chemical Variables ............................................................................... 63 River discharge.............................................................................................. 63 Nutrients......................................................................................................... 63 Salinity ........................................................................................................... 64 Temperature .................................................................................................. 64 Color .............................................................................................................. 65 Secchi depth .................................................................................................. 65 Nutrient limitation bioassays ......................................................................... 66 Cluster analysis ............................................................................................. 66 Phytoplankton abundance............................................................................. 67 Seasonality of Phytoplankton Biovolume ............................................................ 68 Relationships Between Phytoplankton Community Assemblages and Environmental Variables................................................................................... 71 Discussion ................................................................................................................... 74 4 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................ 116 LIST OF REFERENCES ................................................................................................. 119 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.............................................................................................. 123 6 LIST OF TABLES Table page 2-1 Summary characteristics of sampling sites for nutrient and chlorophyll a in the Apalachicola NERR SWMP. ............................................................................ 36 2-2 Duncan’s Multiple Range Test for salinity during high discharge and low discharge ................................................................................................................ 36 2-3 Duncan’s Multiple Range Test for temperature during high discharge and low discharge. ............................................................................................................... 36 2-4 Duncan’s Multiple Range Test for total soluble phosphorus (TSP) during high discharge and low discharge. ................................................................................ 37 2-5 Duncan’s Multiple Range Test for total soluble nitrogen (TSN) during high discharge and low discharge. ................................................................................ 37 2-6 Duncan’s Multiple Range Test for chlorophyll a during high discharge and low discharge.......................................................................................................... 38 2-7 Spearman rank correlation coefficients (top) and p-values (bottom) for selected variables at different sites across Apalachicola Bay. ............................. 38 2-8 Results from t-Tests used to compare the significance of mean values
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