The structure and functioning of the food web in Arcachon Bay (Bay of Biscay, Northeast Atlantic Ocean) was analyzed during the spring bloom period to evaluate the sensitivity of this ecologically and economically important ecosystem perturbation. Differences in the timing of the peaks in phytoplankton and zooplankton populations occur due to a mismatch between primary production and grazing. Using an inverse approach based on in situ experimental data, an ecological network analysis was carried out to characterize emergent properties of the food web and to estimate carbon flows. The data set was composed of rate measurements for net primary production, import and export of dissolved organic carbon, and grazing of heterotrophic nanoflagellates and ciliates by metazoan micro- and mesozooplankton. Ecological network analysis indices were calculated on the estimated fluxes and compared to values from plankton models built with exactly the same method. The largest activities in the resulting model came from the nano- and microphytoplankton. The detritivory/herbivory ratio, the recycling rates and the relative redundancy of the system were very low compared to other planktonic systems, even in similar periods of bloom. These values indicate a transitional system with poor resilience that exports a large quantity of carbon either to the benthos where it is consumed by non-planktonic consumers such as oysters, or else to systems outside of the bay (outwelling).

The hypothesis of nutrient-rich pore-waters seeping at low tide through sediments to channel waters, which drain tidal flats during ebb, was evaluated in the Arcachon lagoon. The back of the bay is affected by freshwater inputs and underground freshwater discharges. The upper part of tidal flat consists of permeable sandy sediments, which are covered by a muddy sediment layer on the lower part. Permeable sediments outcrop in the bed of channel web. Surface water chemistry and early diagenesis processes in sediment were estimated by collecting channel web waters and cores on a tidal flat and in channels at different seasons and time scales. Waters from tidal creeks are under-oxygenated, and enriched in reduced solutes. Muddy sediments showed evidences of strong organic matter mineralization and bioturbation. Underlying permeable sandy sediments revealed as well evidences of an enrichment of inorganic nutrients, and dilution with fresh continental groundwater. During ebb, tidal creek waters stem from mudflats by seeping of anoxic pore-waters, and from permeable sediments by advection of reduced waters. A rough estimation shows that the yearly contribution of this tidal pump of pore-waters for dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) and ammonia inputs is of the same order of magnitude than river inputs for the studied part of the bay. Extrapolated to the whole Arcachon lagoon, pore-water discharge at low tide supplies to water column at least 556 kmol yr(-1) and 18300 kmol yr(-1) of DIP and NH(4)(+), respectively. Tidal drainage at low tide represents therefore a minimal contribution of recycled nutrient of 55% for DIP and 15% for dissolved inorganic nitrogen to the lagoon. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Phytoplankton dynamics were assessed in the macrotidal ecosystem of Arcachon Bay through high-frequency surveys over a 5-year period in order to characterize typology of environmental conditions at the onset of the productive period. Temporal variations of hydrological and biological parameters were examined in external and internal waters of the lagoon, during the winter-spring periods from 1999 to 2003. An additional survey was performed during winter-spring 2005 in order to study the vertical structure of the water column. The occurrence of winter phytoplankton blooms between January and March emerged as a recurrent event. The early onset of the productive period is influenced by the biological functioning of adjacent Bay of Biscay oceanic waters. It is hypothesized that under a propitious hydrodynamic regime, phytoplankton inocula from the Bay of Biscay enter in the Arcachon Bay where cells presumably find favourable conditions for their fast development. The timing of the onset of those winter blooms in Arcachon Bay seems to be mainly influenced by the presence of anticyclonic weather conditions (associated with an increase in incident irradiance) during late winter (i.e. by February), while the water column does not show any particular stabilization nor stratification liable to facilitate the onset of these blooms. Moreover, these winter blooms dominated by diatoms led to an early nutrient depletion which could have inevitable consequences on the structuration of the food web during spring and summer.

Seasonal and spatial variations of phytoplankton primary production were studied using a high frequency sampling strategy in the external (ENW) and internal (INW) part of Arcachon Bay, during 2002 and 2003. In order to better assess the availability of nutrients and their relationship with phytoplankton primary production, nutrient variability was studied in relation to environmental conditions and phytoplankton production. During winter, when primary production rates were the lowest, nutrient concentrations were maximal but did not show excessive levels compared to highly urbanised areas. Seasonal and spatial variations of nutrient concentrations (especially DIN-nitrate+nitrite+ammonium- and Si) were largely influenced by Leyre River loads coupled with high tidal exchange with the Atlantic Ocean creating a nutrient gradient between the INW and ENW. By February, diatom growth leads to an early severe nutrient depletion in the entire bay. Examination of nutrient ratios showed that the potential limiting nutrient during spring was P in 2003, and Si in 2002. During summer 2003, N and Si concentrations reached their lowest values, and nutrient ratios revealed a N-deficient environment, more pronounced in the INW. The high Si:N ratios during this period might be explained by (1) important N-uptake by all autotroph communities and (2) benthic-pelagic coupling with high Si regeneration. This study shows that nutrient levels in Arcachon Bay seem to play an important role in the control of phytoplankton primary production rates during the productive period and explain their spatial, seasonal and inter-annual variability. Our estimates of annual integrated phytoplankton primary production (103g Cm−2y−1) place this bay within the low to moderate phytoplankton primary production systems.