Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T13:14:19.907Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Nanoplankton and protozoan microzooplankton during the JGOFS North Atlantic Bloom Experiment: 1989 and 1990

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Diane K. Stoecker ,
Michael E. Sieracki ,
Peter G. Verity ,
Ann E. Michaels ,
Elin Haugen ,
Peter H. Burkill  and
Elaine S. Edwards
Diane K. Stoecker
Affiliation:
Horn Point Environmental Laboratory, PO Box 775, Cambridge, MD 21613, USA
Michael E. Sieracki
Affiliation:
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, PO Box 475, W. Boothbay Harbor, ME 04575, USA
Peter G. Verity
Affiliation:
Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, PO Box 13687, Savannah, GA 31416, USA
Ann E. Michaels
Affiliation:
Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
Elin Haugen
Affiliation:
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, PO Box 475, W. Boothbay Harbor, ME 04575, USA
Peter H. Burkill
Affiliation:
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 3DH
Elaine S. Edwards
Affiliation:
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 3DH
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Complex mesoscale eddy interactions are characteristic of the North Atlantic, resulting in a mosaic of water masses with different physical, chemical and biological properties. Observations of protist assemblages during spring 1989 and 1990 in the vicinity of 47°N 18°W indicate that timing, composition, and further development of the spring bloom community are highly variable between years. During 1989 a microbial community, dominated by small photosynthetic nanoplankton and protist grazers, was observed after the main diatom bloom in the transition zone between two cyclonic eddies. This community was characterized by a high ratio of ‘protozoan’ to ‘phytoplankton’ carbon, and dominance of the microzooplankton by mixotrophic ciliates. A nanodiatom/prymnesiophyte bloom was observed to replace the typical ‘microdiatom’ bloom in a front between a cyclonic and anticyclonic eddy during 1990. After the demise of the diatoms, high standing stocks of nanophytoplankton persisted until early June. In this post-diatom-bloom period, the ‘protozoan’ biomass was lower and the ‘nanophytoplankton’ stocks higher than in 1989. Very high stocks of heterotrophic nanodinoflagellates were observed in 1990. The factors responsible for the development of these quite different microbial food-webs in two consecutive years and the consequences thereof for ecosystem function remain to be more fully explored.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 74 , Issue 2 , May 1994 , pp. 427 - 443
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bockstahler, K.R. & Coats, D.W., 1993. Spatial and temporal aspects of mixotrophy in Chesapeake Bay dinoflagellates. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 40, 49–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Børsheim, K.Y. & Bratbak, G., 1987. Cell volume to cell carbon conversion factors for a bacterivorous Monas sp. enriched from seawater. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 36, 171–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buesseler, K.O., Bacon, M.P., Cochran, J.K. & Livingston, H.D., 1992. Carbon and nitrogen export during the JGOFS North Atlantic bloom experiment estimated from 234Th:238U disequilibria. Deep-Sea Research II, 39, 115–1137.Google Scholar
Burkill, P.H., Edwards, E.S., John, A.W.G. & Sleigh, M.A., 1993. Microzooplankton and their herbivorous activity in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Deep-Sea Research II, 40, 479–493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dam, H.G., Miller, C.A. & Jonasdottir, S.H., 1993. The trophic role of mesozooplankton at 47°N, 20°W during the North Atlantic bloom experiment. Deep-Sea Research II, 40, 197–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodge, J.D., 1993. Armoured dinoflagellates in the NE Atlantic during the BOFS cruises, 1988–90. Journal of Plankton Research, 15, 465–483.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ducklow, H.W., Kirchman, D.L., Quinby, H.L., Carlson, C.A. & Dam, H.G., 1993. Stocks and dynamics of bacterioplankton carbon cycling during the spring bloom in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean. Deep-Sea Research II, 40, 245–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edler, L., 1979. Recommendations on methods for marine biological studies in the Baltic Sea. Phytoplankton and chlorophyll. The Baltic Marine Biologists Publication, no. 5.Google Scholar
Gifford, D.J., 1991. The protozoan-metazoan trophic link in pelagic ecosystems. Journal of Protozoology, 38, 81–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldman, J.C. & Caron, D.A., 1985. Experimental studies on an omnivorous microflagellate: implications for grazing and nutrient regeneration in the marine microbial food chain. Deep-Sea Research, 32, 899–915.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, P.J., 1991. Quantitative importance and trophic role of heterotrophic dinoflagellates in a coastal pelagial food web. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 73, 253–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, P.J., 1992. Prey size selection, feeding rates and growth dynamics of heterotrophic dinoflagellates with special emphasis on Gyrodinium spirale. Marine Biology, 114, 327–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kana, T.M. & Glibert, P.M., 1987. Effect of irradiances up to 2000 μE m−2s−1 on marine Synechococcus WH7803. I. Growth, pigmentation, and cell composition. Deep-Sea Research, 34, 479–495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lessard, E.J., 1991. The trophic role of heterotrophic dinoflagellates in diverse marine environments. Marine Microbial Food Webs, 5, 49–58.Google Scholar
Lochte, K., Ducklow, H.W., Fasham, M.J.R. & Stienen, C., 1993. Plankton succession and carbon cycling at 47°N 20°W during the JGOFS North Atlantic bloom experiment. Deep-Sea Research II, 40, 91–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michaels, A.F. & Silver, M.W., 1988. Primary production, sinking fluxes and the microbial food web. Deep-Sea Research, 35, 473–490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morales, C.E., Harris, R.P., Head, R.N. & Tranter, P.R.G., 1993. Copepod grazing in the oceanic northeast Atlantic during a six week drifting station: the contribution of size classes and vertical migrants. Journal of Plankton Research, 15, 185–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nygaard, K. & Tobiesen, A., 1993. Bacterivory in algae: a survival strategy during nutrient limitation. Limnology and Oceanography, 38, 273–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putt, M., 1990. Abundance, chlorophyll content and photosynthetic rates of ciliates in the Nordic Seas during summer. Deep-Sea Research, 37, 1713–1731.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putt, M. & Stoecker, D.K., 1989. An experimentally determined carbon:volume ratio for marine ‘oligotrichous’ ciliates from estuarine and coastal waters. Limnology and Oceanography, 34, 1097–1103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rassoulzadegan, F., Laval-Peuto, M. & Sheldon, R.W., 1988. Partitioning of the food ration of marine ciliates between pico-and nanoplankton. Hydrobiologia, 159, 75–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanders, R.W., Caron, D.A. & Berninger, U.-G., 1992. Relationships between bacteria and heterotrophic nanoplankton in marine and fresh waters: an inter-ecosystem comparison. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 86, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Savidge, G., Turner, D.R., Burkill, P.H., Watson, A.J., Angel, M.V., Pingree, R.D., Leach, H. & Richards, K.J., 1992. The BOFS 1990 spring bloom experiment: temporal evolution and spatial variability of the hydrographic field. Progress in Oceanography, 29, 235–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sieracki, M.E., Verity, P.G. & Stoecker, D.K., 1993. Plankton community response to sequential silicate and nitrate depletion during the 1989 North Atlantic spring bloom. Deep Sea Research II, 40, 213–225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sime-Ngando, T., Juniper, K. & Vezina, A., 1992. Ciliated protozoan communities over Cobb Seamount: increase in biomass and spatial patchiness. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 89, 37–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sorokin, Y.I., 1981. Microheterotrophic organisms in marine ecosystems. In Analysis of marine ecosystems (ed. A.R., Longhurst), pp. 293–342. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Stoecker, D.K., Gifford, D.J. & Putt, M. in press. Preservation of marine planktonic ciliates: comparison of losses during fixation and cell shrinkage.Google Scholar
Stoecker, D.K., Taniguchi, A. & Michaels, A.E., 1989. Abundance of autotrophic, mixotrophic and heterotrophic planktonic ciliates in shelf and slope waters. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 50, 241–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomsen, H. A., Buck, K.R., Marino, D., Sarno, D., Hansen, L.E., Ostergaard, J.B. & Krupp, J., 1993. Lennoxia faveolata gen. et sp. nov. (Diatomophyceae) from South America, California, West Greenland and Denmark. Phycologia, 32, 278–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verity, P.G. & Langdon, C., 1984. Relationships between lorica volume, carbon, nitrogen, and ATP content of tintinnids in Narragansett Bay. Journal of Plankton Research, 6, 859–868.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verity, P.G., Robertson, C.Y., Tronzo, C.R., Andrews, M.G., Nelson, J.R. & Sieracki, M.E., 1992. Relationships between cell volume and the carbon and nitrogen content of marine photosynthetic nanoplankton. Limnology and Oceanography, 37, 1434–1446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verity, P.G., Stoecker, D.K., Sieracki, M.E., Burkill, P.H., Edwards, E.S. & Tronzo, C.R., 1993a. Abundance, biomass and distribution of heterotrophic dinoflagellates during the North Atlantic spring bloom. Deep Sea Research II, 40, 227–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verity, P.G., Stoecker, D.K., Sieracki, M.E. & Nelson, J.R., 1993b. Grazing, growth and mortality of microzooplankton during the 1989 North Atlantic spring bloom at 47°N 18°W. Deep-Sea Research I, 40, 1793–1814.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisse, T. & Scheffel-Moser, U., 1991. Uncoupling the microbial loop: growth and grazing loss rates of bacteria and heterotrophic nanoflagellates in the North Atlantic. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 71, 195–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wikner, J. & Hagström, Å., 1988. Evidence for a tightly coupled nanoplanktonic predator-prey link regulating the bacterivores in the marine environment. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 50, 137–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar