Phytoplankton-pigment signatures and their relationship to spring–summer stratification in the Gulf of Gabes

Hassen, Malika Bel; Hamza, Asma; Drira, Zaher; Zouari, Amel Bellaaj; Akrout, Fourat; Messaoudi, Sabri; Aleya, Lotfi; Ayadi, Habib

doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2009.04.002

Cited by 32 publications

(33 citation statements)

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“…Li [79] showed that as a rule, a drop in Chl a concentration drives an increase in pico-and nanophytoplankton. This profile is similar to reports from Marty et al [32], and Bel-Hassen et al [80], in the Western MS, where relative contributions for these size groups were about 85%. A dinoflagellate bloom involving Prorocentrum and Ceratium genera, and cyanobacteria, occurred in Bastia.…”

Section: Discussion-conclusionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Contrasting Patterns of Phytoplankton Assemblages in Two Coastal Ecosystems in Relation to Environmental Factors (Corsica, NW Mediterranean Sea)

et al. 2014

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Corsica Island is a sub-basin of the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea, with hydrological features typical of both oligotrophic systems and eutrophic coastal zones. Phytoplankton assemblages in two coastal ecosystems of Corsica (the deep Bay of Calvi and the shallow littoral of Bastia) show contrasting patterns over a one-year cycle. In order to determine what drives these variations, seasonal changes in littoral phytoplankton are considered together with environmental parameters. Our methodology combined a survey of the physico-chemical structure of the subsurface water with a characterization of the phytoplankton community structure. Sampling provided a detailed record of the seasonal changes and successions that occur in these two areas. Results showed that the two sampled stations presented different phytoplankton abundance and distribution patterns, notably during the winter-spring bloom period. Successions in pico-, nano-, and microphytoplankton communities appeared mainly driven by differences in the ability to acquire nutrients, and in community-specific growth rates. Phytoplankton structure and dynamics are discussed in relation to available data on the Northwestern Mediterranean OPEN ACCESS Diversity 2014, 6 297 Sea. These results confirm that integrated monitoring of coastal areas is a requisite for gaining a proper understanding of marine ecosystems.

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Section: Discussion-conclusionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Contrasting Patterns of Phytoplankton Assemblages in Two Coastal Ecosystems in Relation to Environmental Factors (Corsica, NW Mediterranean Sea)

et al. 2014

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“…This generates a high nutrient concentration near the coast (Bel Hassen et al, 2009b) which explains the high values of chlorophyll a and zooplankton biomass registered at the inshore stations. Nevertheless, the high zooplankton biomass recorded in some offshore stations may be explained by the effect of hydrodynamic processes, such as the ebb tides, being relatively stronger than the flood tides (Ben Ismail et al, 2015), which can promote the export of zooplankton from inshore to offshore, and the Atlantic water circulation, which may contribute to nutrient enrichment offshore, thereby inducing phytoplankton production and consequently, enrichment of the zooplankton biomass.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental conditions influencing the larval fish assemblage during summer in the Gulf of Gabes (Tunisia: South central Mediterranean)

et al. 2015

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An oceanographic survey was carried out during the summer of 2009, from June 25 to July 3 in the Gulf of Gabes. The study area was characterised by a wide continental shelf.A plankton sampling scheme was carried out to study the structure of the larval fish assemblages that characterised the surface mixed layer, and to assess the influence of the environmental parameters on their spatial distribution.A total of 36 taxa were identified, three classified to the level of genus, five to the family and 28 to the species. The majority of identified fish larvae belonged to the demersal species, mainly picarel Spicara smaris (23.76% of the total larval fish abundance), followed by red mullet Mullus barbatus (14.92%) and several species of the Sparidae family (9.15%). Small pelagic species such as Sardinella Sardinella aurita and European anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus were also abundant (27.75%) and dominated the fish larvae community in offshore stations. Five large pelagic species were found among the larvae, including bullet tuna Auxis rochei, Atlantic black skipjack Euthynnus alletteratus, albacore Thunnus alalunga, swordfish Xiphias gladius and the highly migratory Atlantic bluefin tuna Thunnus thynnus. All these apex predator species appear in 38.5% of the sampling stations and contributed to about 7.9% of the total larval catches.The larval fish assemblage of the Gulf of Gabes is predominantly composed of the neritic species in correspondence with the shallow depths of the study area. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) showed that larval distributions were mainly conditioned by depth. However, other factors, such as, hydrographic processes, also play a very significant role in shaping the spatial pattern of larval fish distribution.

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“…However, taxonomic identification requires experienced analysts (Vuorio et al 2007), is time-consuming, and is debated for cells smaller than~10 μm. Pigment analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is an alternative option that provides a highly reproducible and relatively rapid bulk estimate of the major phytoplankton groups present in a sample (Wright and Jeffrey 1997;Schlüter et al 2014;Leruste et al 2016) by detecting diagnostic marker pigments, known as accessory pigments (Vidussi et al 2001;Johnsen and Sakshaug 2007;Marty et al 2008;Bel-Hassen et al 2009). All the phytoplankton cell sizes of a sample are considered, including picophytoplankton and mesoplankton (Leruste et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of FluoroProbe® performance for the phytoplankton-based assessment of the ecological status of Mediterranean coastal lagoons

Garrido

Cecchi

Bakhouche

et al. 2019

Environ Monit Assess

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The European Water Framework Directive and several other legislations worldwide have selected phytoplankton for monitoring the ecological status of surface waters. This assessment is a complicated task in coastal lagoons due to their intrinsic variability, prompting moves to use real-time measurements. Here, we tested the ability of the submersible spectrofluorometer FluoroProbe® to accurately estimate the phytoplankton biomass and to efficiently discriminate spectral groups in Mediterranean coastal lagoons, by using sub-surface water samples (n = 107) collected at Biguglia lagoon (Corsica) in different environmental situations (salinity and trophic state) from March 2012 to December 2014. We compared the estimates of biomass and phytoplankton group composition obtained with the FluoroProbe® (in situ and lab measurements) with the spectrofluorimetrically measured biomass and HPLC-derived quantifications of pigment concentrations. FluoroProbe® provided good estimates of the total phytoplankton biomass (particularly, the lab measurements). The FluoroProbe® data were significantly correlated with the HPLC results, except for the in situ measurements of very weak concentrations of blue-green and red algae. Our findings indicate that factory-calibrated FluoroProbe® is an efficient and easy-to-use real-time phytoplankton monitoring tool in coastal lagoons, especially as an early warning system for the detection of potentially harmful algal blooms. Practical instructions dedicated to non-specialist field operators are provided. A simple and efficient method for discarding in situ measurement outliers is also proposed.

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Phytoplankton-pigment signatures and their relationship to spring–summer stratification in the Gulf of Gabes

Cited by 32 publications

References 50 publications

Contrasting Patterns of Phytoplankton Assemblages in Two Coastal Ecosystems in Relation to Environmental Factors (Corsica, NW Mediterranean Sea)

Contrasting Patterns of Phytoplankton Assemblages in Two Coastal Ecosystems in Relation to Environmental Factors (Corsica, NW Mediterranean Sea)

Environmental conditions influencing the larval fish assemblage during summer in the Gulf of Gabes (Tunisia: South central Mediterranean)

Evaluation of FluoroProbe® performance for the phytoplankton-based assessment of the ecological status of Mediterranean coastal lagoons

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