The contrasted phytoplankton dynamics across a frontal system in the southwestern Mediterranean Sea
<p>Numerical simulations have shown that finescale structures such as fronts are often suitable places for the generation of vertical velocities, transporting subsurface nutrients to the euphotic zone and thus modulating phytoplankton abundance and community structure. In these structures, dir...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Biogeosciences |
| Online Access: | https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/20/3491/2023/bg-20-3491-2023.pdf |
| Summary: | <p>Numerical simulations have shown that finescale structures such as fronts are often suitable places for the generation of vertical velocities,
transporting subsurface nutrients to the euphotic zone and thus modulating phytoplankton abundance and community structure. In these structures,
direct in situ estimations of the phytoplankton growth rates are rare; although difficult to obtain, they provide precious information on the
ecosystem functioning. Here, we consider the case of a front separating two water masses characterized by several phytoplankton groups with
different abundances in the southwestern Mediterranean Sea. In order to estimate possible differences in growth rates, we measured the
phytoplankton diurnal cycle in these two water masses as identified by an adaptive and Lagrangian sampling strategy. A size-structured population
model was then applied to these data to estimate the growth and loss rates for each phytoplankton group identified by flow cytometry, showing that
these two population parameters are significantly different on the two sides of the front and consistent with the relative abundances. Our results
introduce a general method for estimating growth rates at frontal systems, paving the way for in situ exploration of finescale biophysical
interactions.</p> |
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| ISSN: | 1726-4170 1726-4189 |