Influence of algal secondary metabolites on plankton community structure

Abstract

Plankton chemical ecologists face numerous challenges in understanding the roles of chemical signalling and defence. They have to deal with a community of diverse species living in high dilutions in the nearly homogenous environments of oceans and lakes. During the annual cycle the community structure changes dramatically, but local influences, such as gradients in light, nutrients, and temperature, also can influence species composition. Despite the fact that the open water is not wellstructured on local scales and offers no spatial niches, the plankton is extremely species-rich and never reaches equilibrium (Scheffer et al. 2003).