Alternative Mechanisms of Spring Blooms
Historically, blooms have been explained by Sverdrup's Critical Depth Hypothesis, which says blooms are caused by shoaling of the mixed layer. Similarly, Winder and Cloern (2010) described spring blooms as a response to increasing temperature and light availability. However, new explanations have been offered recently, including that blooms occur due to:
- Coupling between phytoplankton growth and zooplankton grazing.
- The onset of near surface stratification in the spring.
- Mixing of the water column, rather than stratification
- Low turbulence
- Increasing light intensity (in shallow water environments).
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