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Thompson PA, Baird ME, Ingleton T, Doblin MA
Long-term changes in temperate Australian coastal waters: implications for phytoplankton
Sampling along the east coast of Australia over the past 60 years shows increasing temperatures (0.74 to 2.02°C century–1), increasing salinities (0.23 to 0.35 century–1), and a dramatic decline in the concentration of silicate by as much as 58 nM yr–1 over the last ?30 yr. From 1997 to 2007, the continental shelf region of the western Tasman Sea experienced a 50% decline in growth rate and biomass of the spring bloom, and significant increases in heterotrophic and autotrophic dinoflagellates. Strengthening of the South Pacific subtropical gyre and the East Australia Current are postulated as the cause.
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