Stratification effects on the plankton of the subtropical Canary Current

Schmoker, Claire; Hernández‐León, Santiago

doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2013.08.006

Cited by 16 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…By contrast, the cooling of surface waters during 2011 promoted the development of a deep mixed layer and the consequent nutrient availability in the euphotic zone, favoring the development of the LWB. In terms of Chla, the magnitude of the LWB in 2011 was similar to previous studies in the area (e.g., Schmoker and Hernández-León, 2013). During spring, surface waters became warmer and autotrophic biomass 3 https://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/atbd/chlor_a/ decreased (Figures 3, 6) as expected (Arístegui et al, 2001;Schmoker et al, 2012Schmoker et al, , 2014.…”

Section: Impact Of Late Winter Bloom Development On Autotroph Communitysupporting

confidence: 84%

“…This biomass was also quite low compared to previous years in the same area (see Schmoker and Hernández-León, 2013). Prochlorococcus dominated throughout the study except during the bloom, when Synechococcus and autotrophic picoeukaryotes took over the picoplankton community (Figure 4B), something observed as a common feature of subtropical gyres (Zubkov et al, 2000;DuRand et al, 2001;Baltar et al, 2009;Giovannoni and Vergin, 2012;Schmoker et al, 2012;Schmoker and Hernández-León, 2013). Heterotrophic prokaryotes dominated the picoplankton community during 2010 although their biomass was lower than during 2011.…”

Section: Community Successionmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…During winter, surface cooling erodes the thermocline allowing nutrient input into the photic layer (De Leon and Braun, 1973;Braun, 1980;Barton et al, 1998;Arístegui et al, 2001;Cianca et al, 2007;Neuer et al, 2007), promoting maximum values of chlorophyll a (Chla) and primary production (De Leon and Braun, 1973;Braun, 1980;Arístegui et al, 2001). Micro-and mesozooplankton communities also increase during the winter bloom, taking advantage of the available resources (Hernández-León et al, 1984;Schmoker et al, 2012Schmoker et al, , 2014Schmoker and Hernández-León, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, larger diatoms are the most favored organisms when primary production is artificially induced (Landry et al, 2000b;de Baar et al, 2005;Boyd et al, 2007;Henjes et al, 2007) because of their higher growth rates and a lower grazing pressure compared to prokaryotic algae (Landry et al, 2000a,b;Henjes et al, 2007;Armengol et al, 2017). Mesozooplankton controls microplankton (Schmoker and Hernández-León, 2013;Armengol et al, 2017), which mainly prey on non-pigmented organisms (Arístegui et al, 2001;Hernández-León et al, 2004). Finally, diel vertical migrants (mainly zooplankton a micronekton) exert a predation pressure on mesozooplankton (Moore, 1950;Uda, 1956;Angel, 1989;Hernández-León et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Plankton Community Changes From Warm to Cold Winters in the Oligotrophic Subtropical Ocean

et al. 2020

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Subtropical gyres are large areas of the ocean characterized by high stratification, low nutrients, and low primary production. The Canary Current System (CanCS) shows a rather strong seasonal thermocline during most of the annual cycle, which erodes through convective mixing from January to March promoting the so-called Late Winter Bloom (LWB). Atmospheric deposition from the Sahara desert is also another key feature of the CanCS providing additional nutrients to the euphotic zone. As a consequence of global warming, these oligotrophic regimes systems are expanding and the temperature increase affects phytoplankton, and reverberate on the food web structure and biogeochemical cycles. In the CanCS, the effect of warming and dust deposition on the planktonic community remains poorly know. Here, we show the effects of a 0.5 • C increase in ocean temperature during two consecutive years. During 2011, winter temperature allowed the development of the LWB, promoting the increase of autotrophic cells and the coexistence of the microbial loop and the "classic" trophic web. The former predominated before and after the LWB, while the latter prevailed during the LWB. The rather high temperature during 2010 prevented the LWB development, causing highly oligotrophic conditions and episodic events of Saharan dust contributing to nutrient inputs. During this warm year, we found a dominance of small cells such as nanoflagellates and dinoflagellates, and surprisingly high biomass of mesozooplankton, hinting at the "tunneling effect" as an alternative trophic pathway (rapid uptake of phosphate by prokaryotes which are consumed by flagellates and then by zooplankton). These changes show the impact of a slight increase in temperature in this oligotrophic system and how future scenarios in the context of global warming could promote considerable shifts in the trophic web structure.

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Section: Impact Of Late Winter Bloom Development On Autotroph Communitysupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Community Successionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Plankton Community Changes From Warm to Cold Winters in the Oligotrophic Subtropical Ocean

et al. 2020

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“…These low values of phytoplankton biomass were common for all autotrophic organisms (Fig. 5) but extremely low for cyanobacteria and picoeukaryotes comparing to previous years in the area (Schmoker and Hernández-León, 2013). Biomass was also lower than in previous years for both HNF and Cil.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Plankton community response to Saharan dust fertilization in subtropical waters off the Canary Islands

Franchy

Ojeda

López-Cancio

et al. 2013

Preprint

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Abstract. The plankton community response to natural fertilization caused by the Saharan dust was studied in the Canary Islands waters during winter–spring 2010. For this, a weekly sampling was carried out to characterize the pico-, nano- and microplankton communities. During this period several dust events were identified from atmospheric suspended matter and metal composition. Temperatures above 19 °C in the mixed layer, high stratification and a very low concentration of chlorophyll a, indicated the absence of the characteristic late winter bloom during this year. However, relatively high primary production rates were measured, probably fuelled by nutrient release from the deposited atmospheric dust. In fact, this winter–spring was one of the most intense dust periods during the last years and Saharan dust events were identified in every month. The effect of the Saharan dust over the plankton community mainly consisted in the enhancement of primary producers, mostly diatoms, and the increase of the mesozooplankton stock, whereas cyanobacteria and autotrophic picoeukaryotes were negatively affected. These results suggest that the Saharan dust deposition would be partly fuelling the primary production in these oligotrophic waters of the northeast Atlantic, and could be especially significant during stratified periods, when the atmospheric dust would be the most important nutrient source.

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Seasonality of zooplankton active flux in subtropical waters

Hernández‐León,

Sarmiento‐Lezcano,

Couret

et al. 2024

Limnology & Oceanography

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The biological carbon pump (BCP) is the mechanism by which the ocean transports organic matter below the mixed layer, exporting or sequestering it for years to millennia. Physical transport of dissolved and particulate organic carbon, the sinking of particles, and the carbon transported by diel and seasonal vertical migrants are the three main mechanisms of the BCP. In the study of active flux, seasonality is almost unknown and changes in ocean productivity during the annual cycle could promote differences in this transport. Here, we show the results of a cruise performed during spring in the Canary Current System, where we studied zooplankton active flux in two transects from the coastal zone off Northwest Africa toward the ocean. We measured biomass and the enzymatic activity of the electron transfer system (ETS) as a proxy for respiration in the water column down to a depth of 900 m. Compared with a previous survey during fall, we found higher values of specific ETS activity in the mesopelagic zone, promoting a higher active flux. Our results showed that the seasonality of active flux is driven not only by differences in biomass but also by differences in respiration rates in the mesopelagic zone, mainly due to differences in zooplankton body size. A review of the zooplankton active flux values around the Canary Islands showed a fourfold increase during spring compared with other seasons. This small window of higher flux should be considered in models of active carbon export in the ocean.

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Stratification effects on the plankton of the subtropical Canary Current

Cited by 16 publications

References 38 publications

Plankton Community Changes From Warm to Cold Winters in the Oligotrophic Subtropical Ocean

Plankton Community Changes From Warm to Cold Winters in the Oligotrophic Subtropical Ocean

Plankton community response to Saharan dust fertilization in subtropical waters off the Canary Islands

Seasonality of zooplankton active flux in subtropical waters

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