Furthering the understanding of the role of phytoplankton within UK eutrophication monitoring

Allerton, Mollie Emily (2025) Furthering the understanding of the role of phytoplankton within UK eutrophication monitoring. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

Estuarine and coastal eutrophication is a worldwide issue, where the elevated input of nutrients and changes in water quality conditions in waterbodies can result in undesirable ecological disturbances. The current metrics used with UK eutrophication monitoring are likely to miss fine scale disturbances, including those in the phytoplankton community. Many researchers have called for the inclusion of a wider range of metrics to monitor and assess the undesirable disturbances of eutrophication and have identified developing the understanding of the relationship between phytoplankton and water quality as essential to progress the effectiveness of monitoring and management. This research asks what additional insight can be gained from utilizing long term monitoring data in unique combinations, and by applying additional metrics, including the Plankton Index tool and long-term trend analysis. Through fieldwork campaigns, the relationship between phytoplankton communities and water quality conditions are investigated along a salinity gradient, to determine the factors which may govern the response of estuarine and coastal waterbodies to eutrophication. Nutrient addition bioassays were used to assess the response of different phytoplankton lifeforms to changes in turbidity to establish if assumptions on which assessment practices are based are suitable. Additional and important insights were obtained from utilising existing data in different ways; however, data availability is identified as a consistent limitation. There is a shift identified in the governing factors along a salinity gradient, which has implications for eutrophication assessment in estuaries and nearshore coastal waters, but importantly also identifies the inclusion of phytoplankton lifeform data in monitoring as important to advance the understanding of phytoplankton community response to changing water quality conditions. The results of the nutrient addition bioassay raise questions about the assumptions within eutrophication monitoring and further highlight the importance of the inclusion of phytoplankton data in order to fully understand the extent of ecological disturbances.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	20 Jan 2026 09:58
Last Modified:	20 Jan 2026 09:58
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/101650
DOI:

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