Inter-relations between biological and physicochemical factors in a database for a shallow estuarine system

This paper examines data obtained since 1976 in Peel Inlet and the Harvey Estuary, a shallow estuarine system in Western Australia, which has nuisance growths of macroalgae and seasonal blooms of the cyanobacterium (blue-green alga) Nodularia spumigena. Data collected at the same sites at weekly or fortnightly intervals include phytoplankton (chlorophyll a), water nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), salinity, temperature and light penetration. Seasonally, the biomass of macroalgae has been measured at a number of sites and used to estimate total biomass. The data are characterised by large season-to-season differences, attributable to the seasonality and volume of river flow. The information has been used to relate the magnitude of summer blue-green algal blooms to the winter loading of phosphorus from the surrounding catchment, and the magnitude of macroalgal biomass to light penetration through the water column