Short-term response of phytoplankton community to over-enrichment of nutrients in a well-preserved sub-tropical estuary

At the interface between marine and fresh waters represented by estuaries, chemical changes in the body of water are reflected in the biological processes. Rivers, since humans usually use them as wastewater disposal systems, also play an important role in the nutrient enrichment of coastal waters and estuaries (SMITH, 2003). The first eutrophication associated processes that is focused on in almost all studies is the excess algal growth (YOSHIYAMA; SHARP, 2006). But, as estuarine system response to nutrient enrichment has been demonstrated not to be linear, as i.e. the high-nutrient and low-growth (HNLG) conditions described by (SHARP, 2001