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Ultraphytoplanktonic Community Structure in the Ross Sea During the Austral Spring 1994

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Ross Sea Ecology

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Abstract

During the cruise ROSSMIZE leg 1 (November-December 1994), the spatial and temporal variation of the vernal ultraphyplanktonic (0.2–10µm) community structure was investigated in relation to sea-ice conditions, hydrography and light condition along a south-north transect performed from the open waters of the Ross Sea polynya through its northern marginal ice zone into pack ice. Ultraphytoplankton abundance ranged within one and one-half orders of magnitude (105-5 × 106 cells |-1). Four main size spectrum features of the community could be distinguished and related to irradiance-vertical-mixing regime and to the distribution of different water masses. The abundance and the relative significance of 5–10 µm cells were higher in the surface waters of the recently ice-free area. Picophytoplankton (0.2–3 µm) reached its peak and dominated at the pycnocline depth of the marginal ice zone and all along the water column of the northernmost part of the transect occupied by Open Antarctic Surface Waters. Our data suggest that 5 µm may represent a boundary size in the response of the Antarctic phytoplankton structure to physical light climate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Biologia Animale ed Ecologia Marina, Università di Messina, Salita Sperone 31, 98166, S. Agata Messina, Italy

    V. Bruni

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  1. S. Vanucci
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  2. V. Bruni
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto di Scienze Ambientali Marine, Università di Genova, Viale Benedetto XV 5, I-16132, Genova, Italia

    Francesco Maria Faranda

  2. Dipartimento di Biologia ed Ecologia Marina, Università di Messina, Salita Sperone 31, I-98166, Messina-S. Agata, Italia

    Letterio Guglielmo

  3. Stazione Zoologica “Anton Dohrn”, Villa Comunale, I-80121, Napoli, Italia

    Adrianna Ianora

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© 2000 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Vanucci, S., Bruni, V. (2000). Ultraphytoplanktonic Community Structure in the Ross Sea During the Austral Spring 1994. In: Faranda, F.M., Guglielmo, L., Ianora, A. (eds) Ross Sea Ecology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59607-0_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59607-0_15

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-64048-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-59607-0

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