Rarely are
the frequencies and trophodynamic impacts of such blooms
considered. The dogma which seems to have emerged is that
the spring diatom bloom is the only one worthy of serious
study, that it is the major bloom event driving marine trophodynamics,
and I.hat resolution of its dynamics will generally
explain nutrient-regulated fertility and bloom dynamics.
This restricted focus and the spring diatom bloom bias
have a practical explanation. Methodological constraints
make it difficult to deal with the successions of bloom and
subordinate species occurring during bloom events, and their
variable ecophysiology, bloom magnitude potential, and suitability
as prey. Inherently, particularly during blooms, these
interrelated successional features have both causes and consequences.
Quantitative measurements of bloom processes
as a function of these parameters are not only methodologically
difficult, but usually further constrained by the need
for high popuhtion abundance. These analytical problems
are classically accommodated by applying a reductionist,
whole-community approach, with community size-fractionation
a partial refinement (Malone 1980). Bloom abundance
and fluctuations are then commonly expressed in terms of
community biomass, with chlorophyll amount usually the
index of abundance against which total-community rate processes,
such as productivity, are often normalized. Of the
bloom events in the sea, the high abundance and monotonous
diatom flora of the annual spring (upwelling) bloom
historically have best satisfied these analytical needs. This
largely explains our biased understanding of blooms, based
primarily on prcaximate, whole-community approaches, with
neglect of the organismal approaches essential to elucidation
of bloom events. Some phytoplankton ecologists, who typically
focus on rnass balance dynamics and primary production,
have slowly come to recognize what organismally focused
ecologists accept as a truism--the trophic
consequences of blooms should vary with the bloom species.
This is particularly evident to those who investigate HAB