Impact of the Diatom Asterionella glacialis (Castracane) Bloom on the Water Quality and Phytoplankton Community Structure in Coastal Waters of Gopalpur Sea, Bay of Bengal
Occurrence ofmono-species bloom ofthe diatom Asterionella glacialis (Castracane) in the coastal watersof Gopalpur sea, north-western Bay of Bengal and its impact on the water quality and phytoplankton communitystructure is reported in this paper. The bloom period persisted for about two weeks, from third week of March to 4'April 2004. Population density of phytoplankton discerned manifold increase from 4.63 x 10* cells i-' on 22mFebruary 2004 to 3.96 x 10’ cells 1-' on 26" March 2004. An overwhelming dominance of Asterionella contributingabout 99.5% of the total phytoplankton count was observed during peak bloom period. Chlorophyll-a contents alsoshowed an exponential increase that rose to 237.5 mg m’ during peak bloom period from its pre-bloom concentrationof about 3.26 mg m-’. The stable hydrographic conditions coupled with increased nutrient concentrations havetriggered the blooming of this diatom species. Termination of bloom occurred with the depletion of nitrate andsilicate in the medium water. Phytoplankton community structure in terms oftheir species diversity, species richnessand evenness showed distinct variations during the pre-bloom, bloom and post-bloom periods.
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