Spawning of green sea urchins and blue mussels may be triggered by a heat-stable metabolite released by various species of phytoplankton. Mussels require a higher phytoplankton density for a maximum response than urchins, perhaps because mussels are exposed to higher concentrations of phytoplankton as a result of their filtering activity. Phytoplankton as a spawning cue appears to integrate numerous physical and biotic factors indicating favorable conditions for larval growth and survival. Evolution of similar direct coupling of the larval phase with phytoplankton blooms may be common among marine invertebrates.

Factors controlling the horizontal distribution of sea-ice microalgae were studied in Southeastern Hudson Bay and adjacent Manitounuk Sound (Canadian Arctic). Both large (-30 km) and small (0.3 to 500m) scales of variability were investigated. Results showed that salinity was the most important factor controlling large scale distribution of the ice-microalgal biomass, through its effect on the structure of the ice (surface available for colonization). Variation in the thickness of the snow-ice cover, which determines irradiance at the bottom of the ice, was the factor controlling distribution of the algal biomass at smaller scale (diameter of patches of microalgal biomass ranging between 20 and 90 m). The relation between ice-algal abundance and snow-ice thickness changed however over the season. At the beginning of the growing season (in April when the bottom-ice irradiance was higher than a minimum critical irradiance), maximum algal biomass was observed under areas covered by the smallest snow depths. Towards the end of the season, when light transmitted through the snow-lce cover increased, maximum algal biomass was observed under areas covered by the deepest snow. This suggests that ice algae have both minimum and maximum critical light levels. The minimum level is the irradiance below which there is no photosynthetic activity (Imi, -7.6 CL Einst m-2 S-') and the maximum level corresponds to the inhibiting light intensity, which may vary during the growth season. The horizontal heterogeneity of the snow-ice cover, whlch is influenced by wind at the air-ice interface, thus provides diversified bottom-ice habitats where irradiance is compatible or not with the physiological limits of the ice microalgals cells. This results in a strong patchiness in distribution of ice-bottom microalgae.

The influence of physical factors on phytoplankton succession was assessed during an annual cycle in the St. Lawrence Estuary (Canada), where nutrients remain abundant throughout the whole year. Typically, the phytoplankton production period is short (Jun to Sep) and characterized by the occurrence of 3 distinct peaks. The July bloom was dominated by the 2 diatoms Thalassiosira nordenskioldii and Chaetoceros debilis, while Leptocylindrus minimus and Nitzschia seriata were dominant at the beginning and at the end of September, respectively. The occurrence of the 3 bloom periods is related to an increase in mean light intensity in the mixed layer, caused by strong density stratification which decreases the depth of the mixed layer. During these bloom periods, the succession of diatom species is mainly controlled by variations in temperature. Flagellates were observed all yearround, although they were more abundant during the diatom bloom periods. Their abundance is related to variations in surface temperature. In the Estuary, where nutrients are usually non-limiting, the observed succession of taxa is restricted to the first stage of the Margalef (1958) succession model (small cells with high growth rates, which are typical species for frequently destabilized environment). Our results demonstrate that the frequency of destabilization of the water column selects the growth rates of the cells, through nutrient conditions. Mean light intensity in the mixed layer determines the occurrence of non-motile forms such as diatoms, and temperature sets the conditions for optimal metabolic activity (flagellate numbers and succession of diatom species). This results in a conceptual model where stability conditions, mean light in the mixed layer and temperature hierarchically control phytoplankton succession.

The growth and spatial distribution of postlarval snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) from a relatively unexploitated stock in Bonne Bay, Newfoundland (Gulf of St. Lawrence), were described from the analysis of size distributions from trawls and a dredge sampled between 1988 and 1993. Immature crabs molted twice a year for instars I-V and then molted annually until females reached a terminal molt at maturity (instar X or XI) and males a juvenile stage (instar VIII). Thereafter, juvenile males could molt to another juvenile size, skip a molt, or achieve a terminal molt at the onset of the morphometric differentiation of their claws depending on the relative abundance of mature males. The life expectancy of females and males was 13 and 19 years, respectively. Males should recruit to the commercial size of 95 mm carapace width at instar XII, 9 years or more after settlement. Relative abundance of early benthic to commercial-size individuals suggests that small immature crabs (instar V) migrate from shallow rocky to deep muddy bottoms. The patchy spatial distribution observed for the snow crab appeared to be determined more by substrate and intraspecific factors than by depth. Seasonal movements to shallow waters by larger animals was related to density- and temperature-dependent factors associated with the reproductive and growth cycle.

Several biological and physical variables were measured four times daily for 148 consecutive days at a fixed station to examine fluctuations of phytoplankton abundance in the littoral zone of the lower St. Lawrence estuary. On the seasonal scale, the pattern of variation of phytoplankton was characterized by a midsummer diatom bloom similar to that observed offshore in the pelagic zone. On the shorter time scale, chlorophyll a concentration in the littoral zone was highly variable and closely associated with variations in the wind field. No relationship, however, could be found between phytoplankton cell numbers and wind velocity. The possible influence of wind, tidalinduced upwelling, overturning eddies, and wave-induced mixing processes on resuspension was examined. The higher Chl a values observed irregularly at the sampling stations resulted from the mechanical resuspension of benthic diatoms due to wind, or wind-induced wave, mixing in the littoral zone. Wind velocities >4 m s-l were shown to cause significant resuspension of particulate organic matter (POC) in the water column. For winds >6 m s-l, there was no further increase in POC. These results suggest that the frequency of wind velocities > 4 m s-* plays a significant role on secondary production in the littoral zone by providing an increased food supply to benthic and planktonic filter feeders, especially at times when phytoplankton biomass is normally low in the water column.