Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Investigating The Spring Bloom In San Francisco Bay: Links Between Water Chemistry, Metal Cycling, Mercury Speciation, And Phytoplankton Community Composition, Allison C. Luengen

Environmental Science

Investigating the spring bloom in San Francisco Bay: Links between water chemistry, metal cycling, mercury speciation, and phytoplankton community composition This dissertation addresses the relationship between two problems facing estuaries nationwide: nutrient enrichment and metal contamination. The focus is on the southern reach of San Francisco Bay, where high nutrient concentrations can control the magnitude of the predictably occurring spring phytoplankton bloom. The bloom in this study, in spring 2003, was one of the largest blooms on record, exceeding 150 μg L ^-1 of chlorophyll α. As the bloom grew, diatoms (e.g. Thalassiosira punctigera ) depleted dissolved nutrients from the …