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Short timescale dynamics of phytoplankton in Fildes Bay, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2017

Claudia Egas ,
Carlos Henríquez-Castillo ,
Nathalie Delherbe ,
Ernesto Molina ,
Adriana Lopes Dos Santos ,
Paris Lavin ,
Rodrigo De La Iglesia ,
Daniel Vaulot  and
Nicole Trefault
Claudia Egas
Affiliation:
Departamento de Genética Molecular y Microbiología. Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Portugal 49, Santiago, Chile
Carlos Henríquez-Castillo
Affiliation:
Departamento de Genética Molecular y Microbiología. Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Portugal 49, Santiago, Chile Laboratorio de Oceanografía Microbiana, Departamento de Oceanografía, Universidad de Concepción, PO Box 160-C, Concepción, Chile Instituto Milenio de Oceanografía, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile
Nathalie Delherbe
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Oceanografía Microbiana, Departamento de Oceanografía, Universidad de Concepción, PO Box 160-C, Concepción, Chile
Ernesto Molina
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Portugal 49, Santiago, Chile
Adriana Lopes Dos Santos
Affiliation:
Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 06, CNRS, UMR7144, Station Biologique, Place Georges Teissier 29680, Roscoff, France
Paris Lavin
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Complejidad Microbiana y Ecología Funcional, Instituto Antofagasta, Universidad de Antofagasta, Avenida Angamos 601, Antofagasta, Chile
Rodrigo De La Iglesia
Affiliation:
Departamento de Genética Molecular y Microbiología. Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Portugal 49, Santiago, Chile Instituto Milenio de Oceanografía, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile
Daniel Vaulot
Affiliation:
Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 06, CNRS, UMR7144, Station Biologique, Place Georges Teissier 29680, Roscoff, France
Nicole Trefault*
Affiliation:
Centro de Genómica y Bioinformática, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Mayor, Camino La Pirámide 5750, Huechuraba, Santiago, Chile
*
nicole.trefault@umayor.cl
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Abstract

Phytoplankton is responsible for most primary production in Antarctica, but the short timescale dynamics of its size structure and composition are poorly described and understood. The abundance and composition of phytoplankton in Fildes Bay, western Antarctic Peninsula, was followed for 12 days during the summer using a range of methods, including size fractionation of chlorophyll, microscopy, flow cytometry and terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) of the plastid 16S rRNA gene. A rapid increase in biomass and cell abundance occurred in response to a vertical mixing event. This increase also resulted in a shift in composition from diatoms to Prymnesiophyceae, and then back to diatoms as the water column re-stratified. Our results show a strong dominance of nanophytoplankton represented by Thalassiosira and Phaeocystis. The rapid response of the phytoplankton suggests that it is well adapted to short-term environmental changes.

Keywords

Antarctic marine microorganismsmicrobial photosynthetic eukaryotesmolecular fingerprintingphytoplankton size structure
Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 29 , Issue 3 , June 2017 , pp. 217 - 228
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Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2017 

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