Phytoplankton pigments, functional types, and absorption properties in the Delagoa and Natal Bights of the Agulhas ecosystem

Mechanisms of phytoplankton adaptation to environmental variability in a shelf ecosystem

“…Two other investigations based on preserved water samples showed contrasting estimates, where Schleyer (1981) reported the dominance of microflagellates in an inshore zone near Durban, while diatoms were dominant further offshore in the vicinity of the cyclonic eddy (Carter and Schleyer, 1988). More recently, Barlow et al (2008) using pigment indices indicated that flagellates generally dominated the Bight during September 2005, with diatoms being more important in two cool water zones in mid-shelf and just south of Richards Bay. In September 2007, mixed diatom-flagellate communities were observed on a meridional transect, with diatoms tending to be more prominent, except for flagellate dominance in the mid-shelf (Barlow et al, 2010).…”

“…Lutjeharms et al (2000) observed 1.0e 1.5 mg m À3 in the north and <0.5 mg m À3 in the southern half of the Bight during winter. Integrated chlorophyll a levels of 20e 70 mg m À2 across the bight were estimated in September 2005 (Barlow et al, 2008) and 28e83 mg m À2 in September 2007 (Barlow et al, 2010). Pigment indices revealed that small flagellates generally dominated the phytoplankton populations but diatoms were found to be more prominent in cooler waters near Richards Bay and Durban where nutrient availability was greater (Barlow et al, 2008(Barlow et al, , 2010.…”

Influence of light in the mixed-layer on the parameters of a three-component model of phytoplankton size class

“…Fraction of Nanoplankton (cells 2-20 μm) Vidussi et al (2001) and Uitz et al (2006) attributed the diagnostic pigments 19′-hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin, 19′-butanoyloxyfucoxanthin (Goericke, 1995(Goericke, , 2002; B denotes data from the GeP&CO programme (Dandonneau et al, 2004); C denotes data from the BEAGLE cruise (Barlow et al, 2007); D denotes data from the BIOSOPE cruise (Bricaud, Babin, Claustre, Ras, & Tièche, 2010;Ras, Claustre, & Uitz, 2008); E denotes data from a Line-P cruise in the Subarctic Northeast Pacific (Werdell et al, 2003;Westberry, Dall'Olmo, Behrenfeld, & Moutin, 2010); F denotes data from a cruise in the Mediterranean Sea (Dall'Olmo et al, 2011;Werdell et al, 2003;Westberry et al, 2010); G denotes data from a cruise in the North Atlantic (Werdell et al, 2003;Westberry et al, 2010); H denotes data from a cruise in the Equatorial Pacific (Dall'Olmo, Westberry, Behrenfeld, Boss, & Slade, 2009;Werdell et al, 2003); I denotes data from the eastern Atlantic Ocean (Brotas et al, 2013); J denotes data from the Atlantic Meridional Transect cruises 1-22 (Aiken et al, 2009;Airs & Martinez-Vicente, 2014a, 2014b, 2014cBarlow et al, 2002;Gibb et al, 2000); K denotes data from the Agulhas ecosystem and Tanzania (Barlow, Kyewalyanga, Sessions, van den Berg, & Morris, 2008;Barlow et al, 2011); L denotes data from the Mozambique Channel (Barlow, Lamont, Morris, Sessions, & van den Berg, 2014); M denotes data gathered from various locations by the Bedford Institute of Oceanography (Devred et al, 2006;Sathyendranath et al, 2001); N denotes USJGOFS data in the Equatorial Pacific (Bidigare, 1994(Bidigare, , 1996; O denotes USJGOFS data from the Southern Ocean (RR_KIW) …”

A brief overview of the ACEP project: Ecosystem Processes in the KwaZulu-Natal Bight

“…Upwelling facilitates the intrusion of cold, low-salinity, nutrient-enriched water onto the shelf, and, together with the nutrients emanating from the plumes (outwelling) of numerous rivers, notably that of the Thukela River (Ryther et al 1966;Burchall 1968), has meant that shelf waters of the bight have variously been described as oligotrophic, mesotrophic and eutrophic, depending on their proximity to the: (i) coast, (ii) upwelling, (iii) Thukela River, (iv) Agulhas Current, and (v) season (Bustamante et al 1995;Lutjeharms et al 2000;Meyer et al 2002;Barlow et al 2008).…”

“…Schleyer (1981) recorded mainly dinoflagellates in reef-associated samples collected very close inshore off Durban. Carter and Schleyer (1988) reviewed these studies, and only recently was research of this nature resumed by Barlow et al (2008), who described some aspects of the phytoplankton communities, noting that small flagellates generally dominated throughout the bight, whereas diatoms were more common in upwelling-associated, cooler waters where nutrient levels were higher. Zooplankton communities, in particular the copepods, are better described than those of phytoplankton, albeit from a few sporadic surveys from the 1960s to the 1980s, using a wide variety of sampling gear (De Decker and Mombeck 1964;Carter 1977;De Decker 1984;Schleyer 1985;Carter and Schleyer 1988).…”