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Mission
The mission of the Phytoplankton Laboratory at SERC is to increase understanding about the
relationship of phytoplankton to their environment. Using the Rhode River and Chesapeake
Bay as a focal site, the Phytoplankton Lab conducts both long term observational studies
and manipulative experiments to discover and model the causal mechanisms regulating the
primary productivity and population dynamics of phytoplankton, as well as the reciprocal
effects of phytoplankton on the estuarine environment. Comparative studies at locations
around the world help to generalize and broaden the impact of findings derived from the
core site.
The common factor linking these topics is an interest in the role that land-sea interactions
at local and regional scales have in structuring and regulating plankton communities and
regulating water quality in estuaries. The long range goal of the phytoplankton
program is to develop a predictive understanding of plankton communities in
shallow estuarine systems, expressed as mathematical models of plankton dynamics in
relation to terrestrial discharge, atmospheric inputs, mixing, and ecological
interactions. As that process unfolds, interim models representing the best
understanding to date are applied to real world problems of eutrophication and water
quality created by human habitation of the coastal zone.
Research on phytoplankton communities at SERC contributes to general questions of
enduring significance to the fields of ecology and estuarine science. Such questions
include:
- What are the organizing principles, or fundamental physical and biological processes,
that determine the flow of energy and cycling of matter in ecosystems?
- What are the long term implications for ecosystem integrity and sustainability of
increasing human population density in the coastal zone?
- How do land use practices and management efforts interact with natural disturbances and
climatological cycles to affect estuarine water quality and suitability for ecologically
(and economically) important species?
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