curvisetus and Rhizosolenia delicatulaP. T. Cleve, 1900 at beach 6, and the green algae Oocystis borgei J. Snow 1903 at beach 9. The Chlorophyta contribution to the total phytoplankton was the highest in winter. During spring, the seasonal cycle of phytoplankton abundance was characterized by a peak corresponding to diatom blooms dominated by Nitzschia spp. (46.60%) and S. costatum (16.70%). The total phytoplankton abundance varied between 0.17 × 104 cells l−1 (beach 10) and

15.61 × 104 cells l−1 (beach 5) with a seasonal selleck mean value of 3.96 × 104 ± 5.29 × 104 cells l−1. Diatoms dominated the phytoplankton at all the sampling beaches. The development of Chlorophyta and Cyanophyta cell abundance also reached a maximum in spring. Spatial fluctuation in spring showed wide variation in abundance and dominant species. Nitzschia PD-0332991 in vitro palea, N. sigma (Kützing) W. Smith, 1853, and to a lesser extent Pseudo-nitzschia seriata (P. T. Cleve, 1883) H. Peragallo in H. & M. Peragallo, 1900, which formed the bulk of the phytoplankton abundance at beach 5. The dominant species in the phytoplankton community were S. trochoidea (a dinoflagellate) and Dactyliosolen fragilissimus (Bergon) Hasle apud G. R. Hasle & Syvertsen, 1996, Striatella unipunctata (Lyngbye) C. Agardh, 1830 (diatoms) at beach 1, L. flabellata at beach 2, A. granulata at

beach 3, S. costatum at beach 4, Chaetoceros socialis H. S. Lauder, 1864 at beaches 6 and 8, Pseudosolenia calcar-avis (Schultze) Sundström, 1986 at beach 7, and A. minutum at beaches 9 and 10, the last-mentioned species sharing the community with several diatom species such as N. palea, Pleurosigma sp. and Rhizosolenia delicatula P. T. Cleve, 1900. During summer, the seasonal mean value of total phytoplankton cell abundance was 4.32 × 103 ± 2.69 × 103 cells l−1. The total abundance varied between 0.33 × 104 cells l−1 (beach 1) and 1.11 × 104 cells l−1 (beach 7). The dominant group was Bacillariophyta at all beaches except for beach 4 in which Pyrrophyta was predominant. C. closterium formed the main bulk of phytoplankton abundance at beach 7. Nitzschia microcephala

Grunow in Cleve & Möller, 1878 was predominant at beach 1, R. stolterfothii at beach 2, A. granulata at beaches 3 and 10, the Idoxuridine last-mentioned species being co-dominant with the green algae Crucigeniella rectangularis (Nägeli) Komárek, 1974, C. marina and Pandorina sp. at beach 10. A. granulata was the dominant species at beaches 4, 5, 8, and 9, and was co-dominant with C. marina at beach 4, C. closterium at beaches 5, 6 and 8; A. granulata and S. trochoidea were the dominant species at beach 9. In general, the overall average cell abundance was 1.45 × 104 cells l−1, and the highest cell abundance of phytoplankton was observed in spring due to the high Bacillariophyta abundance at beach 5. The statistical relationships between the composition of phytoplankton and the physicochemical environment variables at the different sites were analysed.