Transfer processes from a eutrophic ecosystem, the river Rhone, to an oligotrophic environment, the north-west Mediterranean Sea, were studied during the winter period, when inputs of dissolved and particulate matter are at their highest.During a cruise carried out in February 1987, salinity, temperature, turbidity, nutrients, pigments, suspended particulate matter and particulate carbon and nitrogen were measured in surface and subsurface waters near the Rhone outlet.For most of the parameters the results show that during this period a simple dilution process occurs in the river plume of the RhBne without adsorption, desorption, precipitation or biological uptake, contrary to recordings for some other rivers. All the nutrients discharged into the sea by the Rh6ne are available for utilization by marine phytoplankters.
In the Rhone delta area the seston concentration was maximum in the plume waters where small-sized particles dominated, while marine waters were characterized by large particles. The food conditions were optimal for grazers in the interface layer, where the high chlorophyll concentration contrasted with the low values found under the plume.The mesozooplankton specific composition did not show marked difference in and outside the plume. No special pattern for particle size selection by grazers appeared in the plume, contrary to marine waters, where largest particles were the most intensively grazed. The calculations of specific ingestion and filtration rates show that the plume waters (particularly at the salinity interface) were more favourable to zooplankton feeding than the marine ones (outside and under the plume). Nevertheless, taking into account the high level of seston biomass in the whole area studied, the daily grazing pressure of mesozooplankton was very low.
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