Eutrophication in coastal waters is the cause of growth in phytoplankton (in Figure 1) which can lead to shading out of benthic vegetation and oxygen depletion. Experimental studies and theoretical considerations of growth strategies have shown that changing nutrient levels should affect the phytoplankton composition, but no real case studies have been done to support these theories.
By using data spanning two decades, from 30 stations based on the coast of Denmark, statistical models are created to show the phytoplankton response to total nitrogen and total phosphorous and to identify those species with high responsiveness to changing nutrient levels. The models are primary based on generalized linear model theory. Figure 2 displays the response surface plot of Ceratium_tripos (“ Checklist of Baltic Sea Phytoplankton Species”, Helsinki Commission, 2004)
