Bloom of Hemidiscus hardmannianus (Bacillariophyceae) and Its Impact on Water Quality and Plankton Community Structure in a Mangrove Wetland

An intense monospecies bloom of the centric diatom Hemidiscus hardmannianus (Greville) Mann. (Bacillariophyceae) occurred in the coastal waters of Sundarban mangrove wetland, India on 22 July, 2010. The species was abruptly flourished (mean density 8.86 × 10⁶ cells/L) resulting intense green coloration of water. The greatest impoverishment of diversity and density of phytoplankton, micro‐ and mesozooplankton community was observed during the bloom. The phytoplankton community showed an extreme reduction in diversity (12 species to one) and sharp decrease in standing stock (12.84 × 10³ to 8.86 × 10⁶ cells/L) during this period. The late bloom condition coincided with sudden and huge arrival of a clupoid fish Hilsa ilisha which forms the most potential fisheries in Sundarban deltaic region. An attempt has been made to correlate the satellite remote sensing‐derived information to the bloom conditions. The MODIS‐Aqua derived chlorophyll and TMI satellite derived sea surface temperature and wind speed maps have been interpreted.     

Shear instabilities in arrested salt-wedge flows

‘One-sidedness’ in arrested salt-wedge flows is investigated with theoretical models based upon two-layer approximations. These models include the effects of rigid bottom boundaries and the effects of density interface displacement with respect to the centre of the shear layer. The results indicate that inclusion of both interface displacement and rigid boundaries in the model greatly contribute to the ‘one-sidedness’ phenomenon and influence the wave characteristics, especially their stability criteria. Data from laboratory experiments agreed well with the results produced by these models.