Phytoplankton Response to Freshwater Runoff: The Diversion of the Eastmain River, James Bay

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Abstract
Phytoplankton, nutrients, and hydrodynamic conditions were regularly sampled in the estuary of the Eastmain River (Québec) and offshore in James Bay, before and after the diversion of the river for hydroelectric development on 19 July 1980. In the estuary, mean flow decreased by over 90% and the semidiurnal tidal amplitude increased significantly over a 5-d period. The most dramatic event was a major phytoplankton bloom in the river mouth, during a 10-d period of higher water column stability in late August; the cells then remained and bloomed in the thin photic layer. This stresses the role of hydrodynamics (as determined here by the freshwater runoff) in the timing of phytoplankton blooms.

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