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River Discharge Mediates Extent Of Phytoplankton And Harmful Algal Bloom Habitat In The Columbia River Estuary (Usa) During North Pacific Marine Heat Waves, Taylor N. Dodrill, Yangdong Pan, Tawnya D. Peterson

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Marine heat waves (MHWs) have been associated with extensive harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the northeast Pacifc Ocean, but the degree to which these large-scale oceanographic events are mirrored in nearshore environments has not been well established. We compared phytoplankton assemblages in the Lower Columbia River Estuary (LCRE) during two Pacifc MHWs that took place in 2015 and 2019, with observations from 2017, a year with no MHW. These data were paired with environmental data from the summers of 2015–2019 to characterize differences in estuarine conditions during MHWs that promote phytoplankton assemblage transitions and identify HAB-conducive conditions. Bloom densities of …