| Abstract: | This paper reports estimates of trophic flows of carbon off the Galician coast from a 1D ecological model, which are compared with field data from a two week Lagrangian drift experiment. The model consists of 9 biological components: nitrate, ammonium, >5μm phytoplankton, <5μm phytoplankton, heterotrophic nanoflagellates/dinoflagellates (5–20 μm), heterotrophic dinoflagellates (>20 μm), ciliates, fast sinking detritus and slow sinking detritus. Calculations were made for the fluxes of carbon between biological components within the upper 45m of the water column. The temporal development of primary production during the simulation period of two weeks was in good agreement with field estimates, which varied between 248 and 436mgC.m−2.d−1. Heterotrophic nanoflagellates had the greatest impact on carbon flux, with a grazing rate of 168mgC.m−2.d−1. Herbivorous grazing by microzooplankton amounted to 215mgC.m−2.d−1, whereas grazing by copepods on phytoplankton was 35mgC.m−2 d−1. Copepods grazing on microzooplankton was minor (0.47mgC.m−2.d−1) and the export flux from the upper 45m was 302mgC.m−2.d−1. Sensitivity analyses, in which the grazing parameters (i.e the functional relationship between ingestion and food concentration) were changed, were carried out on the heterotrophic dinoflagellate, ciliate and heterotrophic nanoflagellates/dinoflagellate components of the model. These changes did not alter the temporal development of heterotrophic nanoflagellates/dinoflagellates biomass significantly, but ciliates and heterotrophic dinoflagellates were more sensitive to variations in the grazing parameters. The overall conclusion from this modelling study is that the coupling between small phytoplankton and heterotrophic nanoflagellates was the quantitatively most important process controlling carbon flow in this region. |
