A study of the diatoms of the Ouse Estuary, Sussex I. The movement of the mud-flat diatoms in response to some chemical and physical changes

Abstract

The analysis shows that the diatom community resides mainly in the top 2 mm of the mud and when in bright light the community moves less than 1 mm towards the surface of the estuarine mud, although the colour of the mud changes noticeably.The fine mud supports more diatoms than the coarse mud, and the community in fine mud is nearer to the mud surface, but this is probably caused by the more rapid extinction of light in fine mud than in the coarse mud, while also large spaces between the coarse mud particles may offer less protection from the effect of tidal scour than in fine mud, this giving contributory explanation for the less abundant community in coarse mud.