Growth and mortality of coccolithophores during spring in a temperate Shelf Sea (Celtic Sea, April 2015)

Mayers, Kyle; Poulton, Alex J.; Daniels, Chris J.; Wells, Seona R.; Woodward, E Malcolm S; Tarran, Glen A.; Widdicombe, Claire E.; Mayor, Daniel J.; Atkinson, Angus; Giering, Sarah L. C.

doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2018.02.024

Cited by 26 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…These observations underscore the role of circumpolar fronts as natural physical barriers for plankton species distribution in the Southern Ocean (Medlin et al, 1994;Boyd, 2002;Cook et al, 2013). Notably, the rare occurrence of the cold-water species Coccolithus pelagicus at the SOTS and SAM sites contrasts with the high contribution of C. pelagicus to the living coccolithophore communities in the subpolar and polar waters of the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans, where it is often the second most abundant species after E. huxleyi (McIntyre and Bé, 1967;Baumann et al, 2000;Broerse et al, 2000a, b;Ziveri et al, 2000). This important difference in species composition between Northern and Southern Hemisphere subpolar ecosystems could have important implications in the calibration of the satellite PIC signal in the Southern Ocean.…”

Section: Magnitude and Composition Of Subantarctic Coccolithophore Asmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Additionally, a substantial fraction of the coccospheres produced in the surface layer may experience substantial mechanical breakage by zooplankton before reaching the trap depths. Indeed, microzooplankton grazing pressure can remove up to 82 % of the primary production in midsummer in the subantarctic waters south of Tasmania (Ebersbach et al, 2011) and about 60 % of the daily coccolithophore growth in the North Atlantic (Mayers et al, 2019), therefore suggesting a strong top-down control on coccolithophore populations. Additionally, a polyacrylamide gel sediment trap study in the subantarctic waters south of Tasmania by Ebersbach et al (2011) revealed that most of the particles exported out the mixed layer during the productive period occur in the form of faecal aggregates.…”

Section: Coccolithophore Phenology In the Saz: Satellite Versus Sedimmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Coccolithophore biodiversity controls carbonate export in the Southern Ocean

et al. 2020

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Abstract. Southern Ocean waters are projected to undergo profound changes in their physical and chemical properties in the coming decades. Coccolithophore blooms in the Southern Ocean are thought to account for a major fraction of the global marine calcium carbonate (CaCO3) production and export to the deep sea. Therefore, changes in the composition and abundance of Southern Ocean coccolithophore populations are likely to alter the marine carbon cycle, with feedbacks to the rate of global climate change. However, the contribution of coccolithophores to CaCO3 export in the Southern Ocean is uncertain, particularly in the circumpolar subantarctic zone that represents about half of the areal extent of the Southern Ocean and where coccolithophores are most abundant. Here, we present measurements of annual CaCO3 flux and quantitatively partition them amongst coccolithophore species and heterotrophic calcifiers at two sites representative of a large portion of the subantarctic zone. We find that coccolithophores account for a major fraction of the annual CaCO3 export, with the highest contributions in waters with low algal biomass accumulations. Notably, our analysis reveals that although Emiliania huxleyi is an important vector for CaCO3 export to the deep sea, less abundant but larger species account for most of the annual coccolithophore CaCO3 flux. This observation contrasts with the generally accepted notion that high particulate inorganic carbon accumulations during the austral summer in the subantarctic Southern Ocean are mainly caused by E. huxleyi blooms. It appears likely that the climate-induced migration of oceanic fronts will initially result in the poleward expansion of large coccolithophore species increasing CaCO3 production. However, subantarctic coccolithophore populations will eventually diminish as acidification overwhelms those changes. Overall, our analysis emphasizes the need for species-centred studies to improve our ability to project future changes in phytoplankton communities and their influence on marine biogeochemical cycles.

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Section: Magnitude and Composition Of Subantarctic Coccolithophore Asmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Coccolithophore Phenology In the Saz: Satellite Versus Sedimmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coccolithophore biodiversity controls carbonate export in the Southern Ocean

et al. 2020

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“…When available, cell counts for coccolithophores (Table 1) were generally performed using either polarised light microscopy (Balch et al, 2004(Balch et al, , 2008(Balch et al, , 2012Balch et al, unpublished;Daniels et al, 2016;Mayers et al, 2018;Mayers et al, unpublished;Poulton et al, 2010Poulton et al, , 2013Poulton et al, , 2014Poulton et al, unpublished) or scanning electron microscopy (Charalampopoulou et al, 2011(Charalampopoulou et al, , 2016Loucaides et al, unpublished;Poulton et al, unpublished). Other methods for cell counting in the database include inverted light microscopy of formalin-preserved samples (Lipsen et al, 2007;Marañón et al, 2016) and use of a haemocytometer (Marañón and González, 1997).…”

Section: Cell Countsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With the exception of Marañón and González (1997), who report only the concentration of E. huxleyi, cell counts correspond to the total concentration of coccolithophores in each water sample. In 556 of these samples, both the total coccolithophore abundance and the E. huxleyi abundance are reported (Charalampopoulou et al, 2011(Charalampopoulou et al, , 2016Lipsen et al, 2007;Loucaides et al, unpublished;Mayers et al, 2018;Poulton et al, 2010Poulton et al, , 2013 C. J. Daniels et al: A global compilation of coccolithophore calcification rates al., unpublished). In all cases, the counts are reported in cells mL −1 .…”

Section: Cell Countsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Problems with forming such a global perspective on pelagic CaCO 3 production partly arise due to the diversity of the different planktonic organisms involved (coccolithophores; foraminifera; pteropods; and, to a lesser extent some dinoflagellates, Meier et al, 2007, andcyanobacteria, Merz-Preiß, 2000), as well as our incomplete understanding of their ecology and physiology and a lack of in situ global measurements. Despite recent advances in understanding the biomass distribution of coccolithophores and foraminifera (O'Brien et al, 2013(O'Brien et al, , 2016Schiebel and Movellan, 2012), and how these may relate to carbonate chemistry (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Response to reviewer RC2 comments

Poulton¹

2018

Preprint

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The biological production of calcium carbonate (CaCO 3), a process termed calcification, is a key term in the marine carbon cycle. A major planktonic group responsible for such pelagic CaCO 3 production (CP) is the coccolithophores, single-celled haptophytes that inhabit the euphotic zone of the ocean. Satellitebased estimates of areal CP are limited to surface waters and open-ocean areas, with current algorithms utilising the unique optical properties of the cosmopolitan bloom-forming species Emiliania huxleyi, whereas little understanding of deep-water ecology, optical properties or environmental responses by species other than Published by Copernicus Publications. 1860 C. J. Daniels et al.: A global compilation of coccolithophore calcification rates E. huxleyi is currently available to parameterise algorithms or models. To aid future areal estimations and validate future modelling efforts we have constructed a database of 2765 CP measurements, the majority of which were measured using 12 to 24 h incorporation of radioactive carbon (14 C) into acid-labile inorganic carbon (CaCO 3). We present data collated from over 30 studies covering the period from 1991 to 2015, sampling the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic and Southern oceans. Globally, CP in surface waters (< 20 m) ranged from 0.01 to 8398 µmol C m −3 d −1 (with a geometric mean of 16.1 µmol C m −3 d −1). An integral value for the upper euphotic zone (herein surface to the depth of 1 % surface irradiance) ranged from < 0.1 to 6 mmol C m −2 d −1 (geometric mean 1.19 mmol C m −2 d −1

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Control of a phytoplankton bloom by wind‐driven vertical mixing and light availability

Hopkins

Palmer

Poulton

et al. 2021

Limnology & Oceanography

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The balance of physical and biological processes governing phytoplankton growth rates and the accumulation of biomass is widely debated in the literature, notably during the winter-spring transition. Here we show, in a temperate shelf sea that variability in the depth of the actively mixing surface layer is the leading order control. During a 2-week period preceding the peak of the spring bloom we observe two distinct regimes; first, growth within the euphotic zone during the day and re-distribution of new biomass to the seasonal pycnocline at night by convective mixing; then, more rapid biomass accumulation trapped within a shallower, wind-driven actively mixing layer that was decoupled from the pycnocline below. Our observations of the bloom in the Celtic Sea, Northwest European Shelf, were made using ocean gliders and include measurements of the dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy. A 1-D phytoplankton growth model driven by our measurements of dissipation and incident irradiance replicates the observed bloom and reinforces the conclusion that physical processes that mediate light availability were key. Day-to-day variability in cloud cover and the ability of phytoplankton to acclimate to their light environment were also important factors in determining growth rates, and the timing of the biomass peak. Our results emphasize the need for accurate turbulent mixing parameterizations in coupled hydrodynamic-ecosystem models. Our findings are applicable to any region where wind-driven mixing can modify nutrient and light availability, especially across subpolar shelves in the northern hemisphere where light rather than nutrients is typically the limiting factor on phytoplankton growth.

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Growth and mortality of coccolithophores during spring in a temperate Shelf Sea (Celtic Sea, April 2015)

Cited by 26 publications

References 54 publications

Coccolithophore biodiversity controls carbonate export in the Southern Ocean

Coccolithophore biodiversity controls carbonate export in the Southern Ocean

Response to reviewer RC2 comments

Control of a phytoplankton bloom by wind‐driven vertical mixing and light availability

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