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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 1129

D.C. Biggs, R.G. Rowland, H.B. O'Connors Jr., C.D. Powers, and C.F. Wurster; A comparison of the effects of chlordane and PCB on the growth, photosynthesis, and cell size of estuarine phytoplankton. Environmental Pollution 15:253-263, 1978

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Daily additions of 10 µg chlordane (a chlorinated insecticide, C10H6Cl8) or 5 or 10 µg Aroclor 1254 (polychlorinated biphenyls, PCB) to 1 litre of dialysis culture consisting of mixed species of estuarine phytoplankton, reduced algal growth rate and [14]C-uptake per unit of chlorophyll-a. Inhibition by chlordane lasted 24 to 48 hr, and the community cell-size distribution was not substantially altered. PCB, however, caused longer-term effects, inhibiting the growth of phytoplankton larger than 8 µm in equivalent spherical diameter (i.e. large centric diatoms) more strongly than that of smaller forms (pennate diatoms and microflagellates), so that the community composition shifted in favour of small-size algae.