Spatio-temporal structure of diatom assemblages in a temperate estuary. A STATICO analysis

This study examines the spatio-temporal structure of diatom assemblages in a temperate estuary (Ria de Aveiro, Western Portugal). Eighteen monthly surveys were conducted, from January 2002 to June 2003, at three sampling sites (at both high and low tide) along the estuarine salinity gradient. The relationship of diatom assemblages and environmental variables was analysed using the STATICO method, which has been designed for the simultaneous analysis of paired ecological tables. This method allowed examination of the stable part of the environment-diatom relationship, and also the variations of this relationship through time. The interstructure factor map showed that the relationship between the 11 environmental variables and the abundance of the 231 diatom species considered was strongest in the months May and September 2002 and January, February and May 2003. The stable part of the species–environment relationships mainly consisted of a combined phosphate, chlorophyll a and salinity gradient linked to a freshwater-marine species gradient. A more pronounced gradient was observed in January, February and May 2003. Diatom assemblages showed clear longitudinal patterns due to the presence of both marine and freshwater components. May and September 2002 had the least structured gradients with marine-estuarine species appearing in the freshwater side of the gradient. The most complete gradient in February 2003 could be considered, in terms of bio-ecological categories, as the most structured period of the year, with a combination of strong marine influence in the lower zone and freshwater influence in the upper. The best-structured gradients were during periods of a diatom bloom. Stable diatom assemblages (with a strong structure and a good fit between the diatoms and environment) are described and characterized. This study shows the efficiency of the STATICO analysis. The inclusion of space-time data analysis tools in ecological studies may therefore improve the knowledge of the dynamics of species–environmental assemblages.     

Seasonal export and sediment preservation of diatomaceous, foraminiferal and organic matter mass fluxes in a trophic gradient across the SE Atlantic

Seasonal deposition fluxes of sinking phytoplankton, zooplankton and major mass compounds (i.e. calcium carbonate, biogenic opal and organic matter), intercepted by deep-moored sediment traps, are contrasted with their sediment accumulation rates over the 2700 m deep central Walvis Ridge in the oligotrophic SE Atlantic. These data provide the first seasonally resolved record of biogenic particle fluxes in the South Atlantic Central Gyre and serve as the oligotrophic end member of a gradient across the Benguela system to the highly productive coastal upwelling off Namibia. Maximum fluxes at the central Walvis Ridge were deposited in early austral spring, following winter deepening of the surface mixed layer and associated nutrient entrainment. Nearly 25% of the annual mass flux arrived in October, when sea surface temperature rose, deep vertical mixing halted and surface production collapsed. The annual flux of diatoms was dominated by small specimens of Nitzschia bicapitata (60%) whereas Globorotalia inflata dominated the foraminiferal fluxes (25%). Diatom diversity dropped significantly during the bloom periods, when up to 80% was composed of small N. bicapitata, but foraminiferal diversity remained about constant. The diatom flux maximum, together with those of biogenic silica and organic matter, preceded those of the foraminifera, pteropods, carbonate and total mass by 1 week. Fluxes of the left- and right-coiled shells of the deep-dwelling foraminifer Globorotalia truncatulinoides peaked in different seasons, a distinctive ecological behaviour which merits their taxonomic recognition as separate species. These findings testify to recent evidence for the existence of several genetic species within G. truncatulinoides and now suggest that such species may also have different seasonal responses.The Benguela trophic gradient showed a shoreward increase in particle fluxes, but differences were surprisingly small, testifying to only moderately enhanced export productivity and deposition at the Namibian margin relative to the oligotrophic central gyre. From the open ocean toward coastal upwelling, small and weakly silicified diatoms were substituted by other, larger and more heavily silicified species, possibly in response to decreased silica limitation. Foraminiferal deposition fluxes were increasingly dominated by G. inflata, accompanied by a change-over from many warm- to few cold-water minor species. The late winter maximum at the Namibian margin and the early spring maximum at the central Walvis Ridge were generated by the same process of collapsing surface productivity in response to the shut down of nutrient entrainment at the winter to summer transition, although delayed by up to 2 months in the Central Gyre. At the sediment-water interface, intense degradation of organic matter and biogenic silica resulted in poor preservation accompanied by pronounced changes in the species composition of siliceous phytoplankton. Of all particle groups at the central Walvis Ridge, only the export of foraminiferal shells appeared to be fully transferred into the sediment, and through their species assemblage to provide a sedimentary record of past seasonal productivity conditions of the upper ocean.     

Unusual diatoms linked to climatic events in the northeastern English Channel

The composition of the micro-phytoplankton was investigated at two fixed stations in the northeastern English Channel from November 1997 to December 2005. In late summer-autumn 2005, proliferations of the centric diatoms Proboscia indica and Rhizosolenia hebetata f. semispina were recorded for the first time in this area. The weather in 2005 was abnormal: a cold winter and early arrival of summer conditions that extended to late autumn. This resulted in an unusually long, sustained calm and warm period. We suggest that the reduction in mixing may have allowed diatoms of more-stratified waters to be competitive in the normally highly mixed northeastern English Channel in summer-autumn 2005. In 2003 and in 2005, two warm-water diatom species were recorded for the first time. A colony of Eucampia cornuta was observed after an exceptional heat wave in September of 2003, and again in September 2005. Simultaneously at both fixed stations, Chaetoceros peruvianus was recorded in the warm October of 2005. The climatic events are associated with the northward spreading of thermophilic diatoms such as E. cornuta and Ch. peruvianus in the European Atlantic waters, and the proliferation of diatoms of stratified environments such as P. indica and R. hebetata f. semispina in the usually highly turbulent waters of the northeastern English Channel.     

Phytoplankton chemotaxonomy in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean during late summer 2009

A chemotaxonomic investigation of surface phytoplankton was undertaken on a research cruise to the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean during late austral summer 2009. Based on pigment signatures, several distinct regions emerged that were delineated by physical features. CHEMTAX analysis of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) pigment data indicated that diatoms generally dominated communities south of the Antarctic Polar Front (APF), particularly in regions of elevated biomass where chlorophyll-a (chl-a) was >1.5 µg l⁻¹ and diatoms comprised >80% of biomass. Pigment signatures representative of haptophytes-8, indicative of Phaeocystis antarctica, were dominant near the ice shelf. Chl-a concentrations were 0.2–0.6 µg l⁻¹ between the APF and the Subtropical Front (STF) and outputs suggested that chlorophytes, haptophytes-8 and haptophyte-6, in the form of coccolithophores, were the major constituents. Very low chl-a levels (<0.2 µg l⁻¹) were observed north of the STF and the prokaryotes Synechococcus spp. and Prochlorococcus spp. were the dominant groups in these oligotrophic waters.     

Biological components of Ross Sea short-term particle fluxes in the austral summer of 1995–1996

The Ross Sea, a region of high seasonal production in the Southern Ocean, is characterized by blooms of the haptophyte Phaeocystis antarctica and of diatoms. The different morphology, structural composition and consumption of these two phytoplankton by grazing zooplankton may result in different carbon cycling dynamics and carbon flux from the euphotic zone. We sampled short-term (2 days) particle flux at 5 sites from 177.6°W to 165°E along a transect at 76.5°S with traps placed below the euphotic zone at 200 m during December 1995–January 1996. We estimated carbon flux of as many eucaryotic organisms and fecal pellets as possible using microscopy for counts and measurements and applying volume:carbon conversions from the literature. Eucaryotic organisms contributed about 20–40% of the total organic carbon flux in both the central Ross Sea polynya and in the western polynya, and groups of organisms differed in contribution to the carbon flux at the different sites. Algal carbon flux ranged from 4.5 to 21.1 mg C m⁻² day⁻¹ and consisted primarily of P. antarctica (cell plus mucus) and diatom carbon at all sites. Different diatom species dominated the diatom flux at different sites. Carbon fluxes of small pennate diatoms may have been enhanced by scavenging, by sinking senescent P. antarctica colonies. Heterotrophic carbon flux ranged from 9.2 to 37.6 mg C m⁻² day⁻¹ and was dominated by athecate heterotrophic dinoflagellate carbon in general and by carbon flux of a particular large athecate dinoflagellate at two sites. Fecal pellet carbon flux ranged from 4.6 to 54.5 mg C m⁻² day⁻¹ and was dominated by carbon from ovoid/angular pellets at most sites. Analysis of fecal pellet contents suggested that large protozoans identified by light microscopy contributed to ovoid/angular fecal pellet fluxes. Carbon flux as a percentage of daily primary production was lowest at sites where P. antarctica predominated in the water column and was highest at sites where fecal pellet flux was highest. This indicates the importance of grazers in carbon export.     

Summer phytoplankton blooms in the oligotrophic North Pacific Subtropical Gyre: Historical perspective and recent observations

The export of organic matter from the oceanic euphotic zone is a critical process in the global biogeochemical cycling of bioelements (C, N, P, Si). Much of this export occurs in the form of sinking particles, which rain down into the unlit waters of the deep sea. Classical models of oceanic production and export balance this gravitational loss of particulate bioelements with an upward flux of dissolved nutrients, and they describe reasonably well those areas of the ocean where deep winter mixing occurs. The surface waters of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG), however, are strongly stratified and chronically nutrient-depleted, especially in summer. Nevertheless, there is ample evidence that blooms of phytoplankton and subsequent pulses of particle export occur during the height of summer stratification in these waters, especially to the northeast of the Hawaiian Islands. These blooms impact regional bioelemental cycling and act as a food source to the deep-sea benthos. We review here numerous published observations of these events in the NPSG, and present new data collected at Station ALOHA (22.75°N, 158°W) during the first 176 cruises of the Hawaii Ocean Time-series program (1988-2005), along with results from transect cruises conducted in the region in 1996 and 2005. We suggest that the summer phytoplankton bloom can be considered a frequent, perhaps annual feature in the northeastern NPSG, and that its perceived stochastic nature is a manifestation of chronic undersampling in time and space. The bloom is typically dominated by only a few genera of large diatoms and the cyanobacterium Trichodesmium. It appears to be consistently supported by dinitrogen fixation, but the fate of the organic matter produced during the summer depends critically on the species composition of the responsible diazotrophs. We estimate that the summer bloom is responsible for up to 38% of N₂ fixation and up to 18% of N-based new production annually at Station ALOHA. We hypothesize that the spatial distribution, timing and magnitude of the bloom may be determined largely by the physical and biological processes controlling new phosphorus delivery into the euphotic zone during the summer and the preceding winter.     

海水铝浓度对海链藻活性、生产力及其固碳性的影响

近年来,随着人类工业活动的增多及强淋溶性酸雨的频繁出现,大量的铝被输入到海洋中,导致海水环境中铝浓度的急剧增加.由于可溶性铝对绝大多数水生生物具有生物毒害性,其浓度的增加势必将影响到水生生物,尤其是对环境变化较为敏感的水生植物等的生命活动及其所涉及的元素地球化学循环作用.作为全球生产力的主要贡献者,硅藻提供了40％的海...