Are Red Tides Correlated to Spring-Neap Tidal Mixing?: Use Of A Historical Record to Test Mechanisms Responsible for Dinoflagellate Blooms

Vertical mixing is generally considered to be one of the most influential factors affecting phytoplankton abundance in the ocean (Sverdrup, 1953; Gran and Braarud, 1935). Changes in both phytoplankton abundance and species composition are thought to occur as a function of turbulence (Margalef, 1978). Research has therefore been directed at the sources of water column turbulence in nature and how these sources affect phytoplankton community dynamics.