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The exception was an intense algal bloom (.25 mg Chl a L 21) during La Niña-intensified upwelling conditions in April 2008, during which biomass and production estimates of picophytoplankton were at their lowest levels, suggesting that the smallest primary producers were being replaced by larger cells. Thus, for most of the environmental circumstances encountered during our study, our results supported the recent "rising tide" hypothesis that improved growth (nutrient) conditions benefit all size classes, including picophytoplankton. Under extreme conditions of upwelling, however, the picophytoplankton declined abruptly, despite seemingly strong (average) growth rates. Future studies need to provide a better mechanistic understanding of the physical (advection), physiological (nutrient uptake and temperature) and ecological (food web) factors that result in this dramatic nonlinearity in picophytoplankton response to system forcing and richness.

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Assessments of picoplankton carbon biomass in the pelagic ecosystem over the deep region of the southern Gulf of Mexico were conducted during three consecutive summer cruises. Notably, the relationship between carbon distribution of Prochlorococcus (PRO) and Loop Current (LC) dynamics was evaluated. Seawater samples were collected from the euphotic zone (~150 m) for estimating the abundance of the picoplankton populations using flow cytometry analyses. Carbon biomass estimates were based on cell abundance and variable conversion factors computed across stations and depths. On average, about half of the total depth-integrated carbon biomass of picoplankton was attributed to heterotrophic bacteria (HB, 54%) and three autotrophic populations (Prochlorococcus, Synechococcus, and pico-eukaryotes, 46%). In agreement with previous winter assessments, PRO was the dominant component of abundance (~90%) and pico-phytoplankton community biomass (>70%). Based on molecular analyses, distinct ecotypes of high-light PRO and low-light (LL) PRO were found within the euphotic zone, vertically distributed along light and nutrient gradients. Also, PRO distributions were related to hydrographic conditions strongly modulated by mesoscale dynamics. LL-PRO subgroups, located close to the nutricline under LL conditions, were associated with the westward propagation of anticyclonic eddies that episodically detach from the LC. This study highlights the role of the LC and its eddies in the transport and distribution of carbon biomass into the Gulf of Mexico, as represented by the deep subgroups of the dominant, tiniest autotroph within this oligotrophic ecosystem.