Short timescale dynamics of phytoplankton in Fildes Bay, Antarctica

Antarctic science

Claudia Egas¹  Carlos Henríquez-Castillo²  Nathalie Delherbe³  Ernesto Molina⁴  Adriana Lopes Dos Santos⁵  Paris Lavin⁶  Rodrigo De La Iglesia⁷ 

[1] 1Departamento de Genética Molecular y Microbiología. Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Portugal 49, Santiago, Chile;2Laboratorio de Oceanografía Microbiana, Departamento de Oceanografía, Universidad de Concepción, PO Box 160-C, Concepción, Chile;3Instituto Milenio de Oceanografía, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile;4Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Portugal 49, Santiago, Chile;5Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 06, CNRS, UMR7144, Station Biologique, Place Georges Teissier 29680, Roscoff, France;6Laboratorio de Complejidad Microbiana y Ecología Funcional, Instituto Antofagasta, Universidad de Antofagasta, Avenida Angamos 601, Antofagasta, Chile;7Centro de Genómica y Bioinformática, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Mayor, Camino La Pirámide 5750, Huechuraba, Santiago, Chile

关键词: Antarctic marine microorganisms;    microbial photosynthetic eukaryotes;    molecular fingerprinting;    phytoplankton size structure;   

DOI  :  10.1017/S0954102016000699

学科分类：自然科学（综合）

来源: Cambridge University Press

【 摘 要 】

Phytoplankton is responsible for most primary production in Antarctica, but the short timescale dynamics of its size structure and composition are poorly described and understood. The abundance and composition of phytoplankton in Fildes Bay, western Antarctic Peninsula, was followed for 12 days during the summer using a range of methods, including size fractionation of chlorophyll, microscopy, flow cytometry and terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) of the plastid 16S rRNA gene. A rapid increase in biomass and cell abundance occurred in response to a vertical mixing event. This increase also resulted in a shift in composition from diatoms to Prymnesiophyceae, and then back to diatoms as the water column re-stratified. Our results show a strong dominance of nanophytoplankton represented by Thalassiosira and Phaeocystis. The rapid response of the phytoplankton suggests that it is well adapted to short-term environmental changes.

【 授权许可】

CC BY