Abstract
Daily variations in the plankton community of the Gernika estuary (Bay of Biscay) were studied over three week-long periods in order to evaluate the effects of large increases in river runoff due to intense rain pulses. Both tidal and river inflow changes determined the hydrological zonation within the estuary during the study periods. Chlorophyll a appeared to be related to riverine inputs and resuspension processes rather than to phytoplankton growth dynamics. The spatio-temporal distributions of plankton assemblages were related to hydrological conditions. Thus, a successional progression involving short-term interactions among plankton populations was severely affected by increased river discharge. Freshets removed neritic populations and returned the plankton community to an initial state. As hydrological conditions became more marine, the progression towards a community with metazoan predominance was paralleled with a rise in neritic plankton abundance further up the estuary. The development of estuarine populations, which can reach high densities under stable conditions, seemed to be limited by frequent river runoff disturbances occurring in this estuarine system.
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