Basin-scale variability of phytoplankton biomass, production and growth in the Atlantic Ocean

By Emilio Maran, P. Holligan, M. Varela, B. Mourin, A. J. Bale. 2000

230 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The latitudinal distributions of phytoplankton biomass, composition and production in the Atlantic Ocean were determined along a 10,000-km transect from 50°N to 50°S in October 1995, May 1996 and October 1996. Highest levels of euphotic layer-integrated chlorophyll a (Chl a) concentration (75–125 mg Chl m−2) were found in North Atlantic temperate waters and in the upwelling region off NW Africa, whereas typical Chl a concentrations in oligotrophic waters ranged from 20 to 40 mg Chl m−2. The estimated concentration of surface phytoplankton carbon (C) biomass was 5–15 mg C m−2 in the oligotrophic regions and increased over 40 mg C m−2 in richer areas. The deep chlorophyll maximum did not seem to constitute a biomass or productivity maximum, but resulted mainly from an increase in the Chl a to C ratio and represented a relatively small contribution to total integrated productivity. Primary production rates varied from 50 mg C m−2 d−1 at the central gyres to 500–1000 mg C m−2 d−1 in upwelling and higher latitude regions, where faster growth rates (μ) of phytoplankton (>0.5 d−1) were also measured. In oligotrophic waters, microalgal growth was consistently slow [surface μ averaged 0.21±0.02 d−1 (mean±SE)], representing <20% of maximum expected growth. These results argue against the view that the subtropical gyres are characterized by high phytoplankton turnover rates. The latitudinal variations in μ were inversely correlated to the changes in the depth of the nitracline and positively correlated to those of the integrated nitrate concentration, supporting the case for the role of nutrients in controlling the large-scale distribution of phytoplankton growth rates. We observed a large degree of temporal variability in the phytoplankton dynamics in the oligotrophic regions: productivity and growth rates varied in excess of 8-fold, whereas microalgal biomass remained relatively constant. The observed spatial and temporal variability in the biomass specific rate of photosynthesis is at least three times larger than currently assumed in most satellite-based models of global productivity.

Subfields: Ecology, Oceanography

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/408a14431dec42c864720346df69e3b4bca51575

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Citations in the corpus

Plankton respiration in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean (2002, methodology): “However, these C PP measurements are in excellent agreement with published values (e.g. Michaels and Knap, 1996; Morel et al., 1996; Kyewalyanga et al., 1997; Maranon et al., 2000).”
Evidence for aggregation and export of cyanobacteria and nano-eukaryotes from the Sargasso Sea euphotic zone (2010, background): “Datasets compiled for the Atlantic often (e.g., size-fractionation studies – Tremblay and Legendre, 1994; Maranon et al., 2000; flow cytometric sorting – Li, 1994; Jardillier et al., 2010) but not always (Fernandez et al.”
Bio-optical provinces in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and their biogeographical relevance (2011, background): “It might also involve biases as Chl-a concentration is not always proportional to biomass (Marañón et al., 2000).”
Evidence for a heterotrophic subtropical northeast Atlantic (2001, result): “…P estimates derived from 12- versus 24-h estimates and by examining R at intervals of 4, 8, 12, and 24 h. Results from these experiments provided no evidence of altered rates in the 24-hr incubations used here, which was consistent with previous results for P in the area (Marañón et al. 2000).”
Vertical distribution of phytoplankton biomass, production and growth in the Atlantic subtropical gyres (2006, unknown): “largely determine the degree of coupling between autotrophic and heterotrophic components of the planktonic community (Maranõ´n et al., 2000) and therefore affect the carbon fluxes through the planktonic food web.”
Patterns of phytoplankton size structure and productivity in contrasting open-ocean environments (2001, methodology): “The general patterns of vertical and latitudinal distribution of total phytoplankton biomass, composition and production during the AMT cruises, as well as the distribution of dissolved nutrients and the physical structure of the water column have already been described by Marañón et al. (2000).”
Latitudinal variation of the balance between plankton photosynthesis and respiration in the eastern Atlantic Ocean (2001, methodology): “Following the method of Marañón et al. (2000), the hourly production rates were converted to daily rates by taking into account the length of daylight and as- suming that dark respiratory losses represent 20% of light PO14CP (see also review by Geider 1992).”
Spatio-temporal foraging patterns of a giant zooplanktivore, the leatherback turtle (2010, background): “, 2009) which are indeed considered as oceanic deserts due to the low levels of nutrients in these areas (Marañón et al., 2000).”
High variability of primary production in oligotrophic waters of the Atlantic Ocean: uncoupling from phytoplankton biomass and size structure (2003, unknown): “A comparison of successive AMT cruises suggested that changes in primary production in oligotrophic waters are not associated with significant differences in phytoplankton chlorophyll concentration (Marañón et al. 2000).”
Large-scale latitudinal distribution of Trichodesmium spp. in the Atlantic Ocean (2003, methodology): “The region where Trichodesmium is abundant coincides with an area of enhanced phytoplankton growth rates (Marañón et al., 2000), suggesting that N2-fixation and the subsequent DON release (Vidal et al., 1999) may play an important role in stimulating primary production in the low-latitude eastern…”