We analyzed surface sediments from 23 northeast USA estuaries, from Maine to Delaware, and nine estuaries from Prince Edward Island (PEI, Canada), to determine how dinoflagellate cyst assemblages varied with nutrient loading. Overall the abundance of cysts of heterotrophic dinoflagellates correlates with modeled nitrogen loading, but there were also regional signals. On PEI cysts of Gymnodinium microreticulatum characterized estuaries with high nitrogen loading while the sediments of eutrophic Boston Harbor were characterized by high abundances of Spiniferites spp. In Delaware Bay and the Delaware Inland Bays Polysphaeridium zoharyi correlated with higher temperatures and nutrient loading. This is the first study to document the dinoflagellate cyst eutrophication signal at such a large geographic scale in estuaries, thus confirming their value as indicators of water quality change and anthropogenic impact.
Keywords: Environmental indicators; Nutrient loading; Palynology; Plankton; Prince Edward Island; Water quality.
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