ABSTRACT
There is considerable information concerning the toxicity of plankton bloom species and the adverse impacts of HABs on individual populations of invertebrates and fishes. Plankton blooms have been associated with effects on invertebrates (Buskey, 1997; Steidinger et al., 1998b), fishes (Shimada et al., 1983; Chang et al., 1990; Burkholder et al., 1992), and major fisheries (Smayda and Shimizu, 1993; Hallegreaff, 1995; Hallegreaff et al., 1995; Anderson and Garrison, 1997). Various authors (Anderson et al., 1997) have pointed out that anthropogenous sources of pollutants and nutrients are responsible for recent increases in both the frequency and severity of HABs. Riegman (1998) reviewed how the species composition of phytoplankton may be changed by the dynamic interactions among macronutrients. Much of this discussion, however, was conjectural, and the response of the phytoplankton as a community to anthropogenous alterations of nutrient loading to coastal systems remains largely unstudied. Likewise, relatively little information exists concerning system-level responses of the secondary producers to changes in the plankton communities.
