Table 1
Regionally explicit data sets, number of samples and records, time intervals, number of algal classes, genera, and total observed taxon richness. Taxon richness estimate is the
asymptote ofWeibull parametric function fitted to empirical species accumulation curve. SAC slope is the initial slope of the species accumulation curve (SAC), and shows the
average increase in taxon richness when adding one randomly picked sample to another. Temperature and salinity, linked with the phytoplankton samples, are given as mean
values and range of 5%e95% percentiles linked with the phytoplankton samples. MST (km) is a proxy of the regional ecosystem size e the minimum spanning tree connecting
all sampling stations in a region constrained to have the shortest total length. BS e Baltic Sea*; CB e Chesapeake Bay; Neuse e Neuse River Estuary; NL e Dutch coastal waters;
Nnay e Norderney; PLE e Patos Lagoon Estuary; SFB e San-Francisco Bay.