Abstract
than to seasonal changes in light availability. The increase of chlorophyll a and carotenoid concentrations in C. vagabunda and G. tikvahiae in response to high irradiance is paralleled by biomass data taken from the estuaries (E. Stieve, unpub. data). The biomass of G. tikvahiae was greater than that of C. vagabunda in low-nitrogen estuaries that also furnished high irradiance to algae. The physiological changes in photosynthetic pigments and nitrogen concentrations created by increased loads suggest increased growth of at least the green alga C. vagabunda. Increased nitrogen load may also increase phytoplankton standing crop, increasing light attenuation in the water column and therefore decreasing the growth of light-limited benthic algae. On balance, the growthstimulating effect of increased nutrients seems to more than compensate for the detrimental effect of light attenuation from the influence of phytoplankton shading at the time of sampling; and C. vagabunda, in particular, proliferates and causes macroalgal blooms in nitrogen enriched estuaries. This research was supported by the Woods Hole Marine Science Consortium. Special thanks to Jennifer Hauxwell for help with algae and Jennifer Bowen for her endless patience. Literature Cited
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