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Planktonic food web in marine mesocosms in the Eastern Mediterranean: bottom-up or top-down regulation?

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Abstract

A mesocosm experiment was conducted in order to studythe structure of the planktonic food web. The dynamicsof pico-, nano- and microplankton populations werefollowed during 40 days in four large (40 m3)enclosures. In three tanks a gradient of addednutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) was applied, whilea fourth tank was used as a control. On day 14, thetop predator (sea bream Sparus aurata larvae)was introduced into the tanks and part of the watercolumn in each tank was isolated in a plastic bagwithout fish larvae, to act as a control forpredation. Physical parameters, chlorophyll aand nutrient concentrations, as well as planktonconcentrations were monitored. A diatom bloom wasobserved in all four tanks, in the first phase endingwith silicate depletion. Flagellate and dinoflagellateabundance subsequently increased, these organismsbeing limited by zooplankton grazing. The zooplanktonpopulations were controlled by both resources (mostlyflagellates) and predation (by fish larvae) asindicated by the results of the control experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Marine Biology of Crete, P.O. Box 2214, 71003, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Paraskevi Pitta & Pascal Divanach

  2. National Center for Marine Research, 16604, Hellinikon, Athens, Greece

    Antonia Giannakourou

  3. Biology Department, University of Crete, P.O. Box 1470, 71110, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Maroudio Kentouri

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  1. Paraskevi Pitta
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  2. Antonia Giannakourou
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  3. Pascal Divanach
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  4. Maroudio Kentouri
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Pitta, P., Giannakourou, A., Divanach, P. et al. Planktonic food web in marine mesocosms in the Eastern Mediterranean: bottom-up or top-down regulation?. Hydrobiologia 363, 97–105 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003121704913

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