Document Type
Article
Department/Program
Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Publication Date
2016
Journal
Marine Ecology Progress Series
Volume
550
First Page
39
Last Page
51
Abstract
In the future, temperature and iron availability are predicted to change in the coastal polynyas of Antarctica, which are the most biologically productive regions of the Southern Ocean. We examined the individual and combined effects of iron addition (+500 nM) and temperature increase (4°C) on Phaeocystis antarctica and several dominant diatom species isolated from the McMurdo Sound sector of the Ross Sea. Iron addition increased growth, carbon fixation, iron uptake rates, cellular carbon quota, and cell size of almost all tested species, while temperature increase only affected certain species. Concurrent increases in temperature and iron synergistically stimulated the growth rates of some species, particularly Pseudo-nitzschia subcurvata. The diversified responses of these phytoplankton to iron and temperature may help explain the current spatial and temporal distributions of diatoms and prymnesiophytes in the Ross Sea. In the future, potential temperature and iron increases may promote the growth of the diatoms Chaetoceros sp., Fragilariopsis cylindrus, and especially P. subcurvata. In contrast, growth rates of P. antarctica did not increase at higher temperatures, suggesting that a shift in community composition toward diatoms may occur under warmer conditions in this biologically and biogeochemically important Southern Ocean polynya region.
DOI
doi: 10.3354/meps11732
Keywords
Antarctic · Global warming · Fe input · Phytoplankton community · Diatom · Phaeocystis · Pseudo-nitzschia
Recommended Citation
Zhu, Zhi; Xu, Kai; Fu, Feixue; Spackeen, Jenna L.; Bronk, Deborah A.; and Hutchins, David A., A comparative study of iron and temperature interactive effects on diatoms and Phaeocystis antarctica from the Ross Sea, Antarctica (2016). Marine Ecology Progress Series, 550, 39-51.
doi: 10.3354/meps11732
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