Relative importance of phototrophic, heterotrophic, and mixotrophic nanoflagellates in the microbial food web of a river-influenced coastal upwelling area

Vargas, Cristian A.; Contreras, Paulina Y.; Iriarte, José Luis

doi:10.3354/ame01551

Cited by 16 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 67 publications

(66 reference statements)

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“…In spite of being a rough estimate, this provides indirect evidence for heterotrophy of PNF in a coastal upwelling system and delivers a value for carbon fraction acquired by heterotrophy similar to values reported in laboratory experiments (Sanders et al, 1990;Skovgaard et al, 2000). This estimated range of heterotrophy is also similar to levels provided by Vargas et al (2012) for an upwelling area off central Chile.…”

Section: Pigmented Nanoflagellates and Mixotrophic Nutrition In The Nsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…However, recent studies in some coastal upwelling systems have demonstrated that the group of pigmented flagellates 2-20 µm in size (PNF) is an important component of the microbial planktonic community, with its biomass exceeding that of diatoms when upwelling relaxes (e.g., Iriarte et al, 2000;Lorenzo et al, 2005;Böttjer and Morales, 2007). As mixotrophy in this plankton group has been described on only one occasion for coastal upwelling systems (Vargas et al, 2012), there is an urgent need to know the occurrence and magnitude of this type of nutrition in PNF to better understand the flows of matter and energy in these productive coastal waters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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About Pigmented Nanoflagellates and the Importance of Mixotrophy in a Coastal Upwelling System

et al. 2020

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Mixotrophy, understood as food ingestion and photosynthesis occurring in the same organism, is a nutrition mode relatively common in marine protists. Among these, pigmented nanoflagellates 2-20 µm in size (PNF) are now known to be responsible for a significant part of consumption of bacteria in the open ocean. However, knowledge about the importance of the mixotrophic nutrition of these organisms in coastal upwelling systems, where autotrophy prevails, is very limited. Here we compile the limited available information about mixotrophy of PNF in coastal upwelling systems, focusing on the NW Iberian upwelling, to show that this type of nutrition is relevant in these productive systems and to urge for further studies. Several indirect approaches allow inferring that mixotrophy is significant for PNF in the NW Iberian upwelling, with heterotrophy supplying approximately seventy-five percent of the total carbon requirements in this plankton group. This new insight has major implications for our view of marine food webs in coastal upwelling regions, and must be taken into account to improve biogeochemical models of the transfer of matter and energy in these marine areas.

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Section: Pigmented Nanoflagellates and Mixotrophic Nutrition In The Nsupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

About Pigmented Nanoflagellates and the Importance of Mixotrophy in a Coastal Upwelling System

et al. 2020

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“…Thus, we suggest that mixotrophy of large plastidic protists, that is, preying on methylotrophic bacteria could have been occurring. Mixotrophy in natural populations of nano-plankton has been previously documented in other coastal upwelling regions, for example, North West Iberian upwelling system (Crespo et al, 2011;Vargas et al, 2011;Hartmann et al, 2012 and references therein) and in both temperate and oligotrophic regions of the Atlantic ocean (Zubkov and Tarran, 2008;Hartmann et al, 2012). Alternatively, the correlation found in Mauritanian upwelling waters between microbial methanol assimilation and primary productivity could be an indirect effect, of possibly a distinct group of methylotrophs associated with upwelling waters that uniquely use up to 57% of the methanol for cellular incorporation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gradients in microbial methanol uptake: productive coastal upwelling waters to oligotrophic gyres in the Atlantic Ocean

2012

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Methanol biogeochemistry and its importance as a carbon source in seawater is relatively unexplored. We report the first microbial methanol carbon assimilation rates (k) in productive coastal upwelling waters of up to 0.117 ± 0.002. On average, coastal upwelling waters were 11 times greater than open ocean northern temperate (NT) waters, eight times greater than gyre waters and four times greater than equatorial upwelling (EU) waters; suggesting that all upwelling waters upon reaching the surface (p20 m), contain a microbial population that uses a relatively high amount of carbon (0.3-10 nmol l À 1 d À 1 ), derived from methanol, to support their growth. In open ocean Atlantic regions, microbial uptake of methanol into biomass was significantly lower, ranging between 0.04-0.68 nmol l À 1 d À 1 . Microbes in the Mauritanian coastal upwelling used up to 57% of the total methanol for assimilation of the carbon into cells, compared with an average of 12% in the EU, and 1% in NT and gyre waters. Several methylotrophic bacterial species were identified from open ocean Atlantic waters using PCR amplification of mxaF encoding methanol dehydrogenase, the key enzyme in bacterial methanol oxidation. These included Methylophaga sp., Burkholderiales sp., Methylococcaceae sp., Ancylobacter aquaticus, Paracoccus denitrificans, Methylophilus methylotrophus, Methylobacterium oryzae, Hyphomicrobium sp. and Methylosulfonomonas methylovora. Statistically significant correlations for upwelling waters between methanol uptake into cells and both chlorophyll a concentrations and methanol oxidation rates suggest that remotely sensed chlorophyll a images, in these productive areas, could be used to derive total methanol biological loss rates, a useful tool for atmospheric and marine climatically active gas modellers, and air-sea exchange scientists.

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“…SANCHÉZ et al, 2011;VARGAS et al, 2012). Nevertheless, the present study reveals the complexity of the plankton structure in systems with high hydrological variability and represents an important starting point for the modelling of the carbon fluxes in this and other similar tropical systems.…”

Section: Trophic Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Small time scale plankton structure variations at the entrance of a tropical eutrophic bay (Guanabara Bay, Brazil)

et al. 2012

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A B S T R A C TThe dynamics of the plankton compartments at the entrance of Guanabara Bay (SE Brazil) were assessed during a short-term temporal survey to estimate their trophic correlations. Size-fractioned phytoplankton (picoplankton: < 2µm, nanoplankton: 2-20µm and microplankton: > 20µm) biomass and photosynthetic efficiency, composition and abundance of the auto-and heterotrophic nano-and microplankton, and mesozooplankton were evaluated at a fixed station for 3 consecutive days at 3-h intervals, in the surface and bottom (20m) layers. The variability of almost all plankton compartments in the surface layer was directly dependent on temperature, indicating the great influence of the circulation at the entrance of the bay on plankton structure. In the surface layer, the mesozooplankton seems to be sustained by both autotrophic nano-and picoplankton, this last being channeled through the microzooplankton. Near the bottom, both auto-and heterotrophic microplankton are probably supporting the mesozooplankton biomass. Our findings thus suggest that the entrance of Guanabara bay presents a multivorous food web, i.e., a combination of both grazing and microbial trophic pathways. R E S U M OA dinâmica dos vários compartimentos do plâncton foi avaliada durante uma série de curta duração na entrada da baía de Guanabara (SE do Brasil), com o objetivo de estimar suas correlações tróficas. A biomassa e eficiência fotossíntética das três frações do fitoplâncton (picoplâncton: < 2µm, nanoplâncton: 2-20µm e microplâncton: > 20µm), juntamente com a composição e abundância do nano-e microplâncton auto-e heterótrofos e do mesozooplâncton, foram determinadas em uma estação fixa durante 3 dias consecutivos, a intervalos de 3h, nas camadas de superfície e de fundo (20m). A variabilidade de quase todos os compartimentos do plâncton na superfície foi diretamente relacionada à temperatura, indicando forte influência da circulação da entrada da baía na estrutura planctônica. Na camada superficial, o mesozooplâncton parece ser alimentado pelo nano-e picoplâncton autótrofos, esse último sendo sustentado pelo microzooplâncton. Próximo ao fundo, o microplâncton auto-e heterótrofo estão possivelmente sustentando a biomassa mesozooplanctônica. Nossos resultados sugerem, portanto, que na entrada da baía de Guanabara esteja estabelecida uma rede trófica multívora, i.e., uma combinação entre as cadeias microbiana e de pastagem.

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Relative importance of phototrophic, heterotrophic, and mixotrophic nanoflagellates in the microbial food web of a river-influenced coastal upwelling area

Cited by 16 publications

References 67 publications

About Pigmented Nanoflagellates and the Importance of Mixotrophy in a Coastal Upwelling System

About Pigmented Nanoflagellates and the Importance of Mixotrophy in a Coastal Upwelling System

Gradients in microbial methanol uptake: productive coastal upwelling waters to oligotrophic gyres in the Atlantic Ocean

Small time scale plankton structure variations at the entrance of a tropical eutrophic bay (Guanabara Bay, Brazil)

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