In addition, they represent the major source of oxygen in this Bay. These flora may be considered a bellwether community for associating these responses to conditions or trends within the system. The phytoplankton community is the primary producer and major source of oxygen within freshwater and estuarine habitats. It also represents a complex and diverse assemblage of species that differ in size, morphology and in their response to environmental conditions. The initial phase of this investigation is to identify specific relationships between various sub-sets of the phytoplankton community and specific water quality parameters within different salinity regimes of the Chesapeake Bay system.
Emphasis is placed on the tidal freshwater and salinity regions of several major tributaries.
The second phase of this study is the application of these results to establish a phytoplankton index that would use specific phytoplankton metrics as indicators in defining the health status within different sections of these tributaries. In this report, patterns of water quality and living resources for Virginia's tributaries and the Virginia Chesapeake Bay are examined.