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Ecological and Physiological Aspects of Primary Production in the Ross Sea

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Ross Sea Ecology

Abstract

A cruise on board the R/V Italica was carried out in the Ross Sea during the austral spring 1994 to investigate the ecological mechanisms that characterize the marginal ice zone (MIZ) of the Ross Sea polynya. In this framework, size-fractionated primary production was studied to assess its spatial and temporal evolution in relation to irradiance, structure of the water column and processes of removal by consumers. Integrated total daily production levels were very variable, ranging from 131 to 2992 mg Cm-2 day-1. Highest values were measured in the polynya and in the MIZ, in situations where ice melting could not ensure water column stability.

Picoplankton represented the main primary productive component in the ice-covered areas, whereas micro- and nanophytoplankton dominated in the MIZ and in the open waters of the polynya. Total and fractionated production appeared more responsive to biological factors than to hydrographic ones. Selective grazing, mostly by krill, was responsible for the picoplankton prevalence in ice-covered areas, as a consequence of the active removal of the larger fractions attached to or released from the pack ice. The absence of such efficient grazing in the Terra Nova Bay MIZ and in the Ross Sea polynya accounts for the predominance, in the former, of a micro- and nanophytoplankton-based production and, in the latter, of a large concentration of Phaeocystis cf. antarctica. This species, in the colonial stage, and Pseudo-nitzschia subcurvata, were dominant in the polynya and MIZ, while Fragilariopsis curta represented the major part of the phytoplankton population of Terra Nova Bay. Photosynthetic characteristics of Ross Sea phytoplankton indicated a community adapted to low light regimes, as demonstrated by the poor correlation between photosynthetic capacity (P/B) and available irradiance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stazione Zoologica “A. Dohrn”, Biological Oceanography Laboratory, Naples, 80121, Italy

    V. Saggiomo, D. Marino & M. Ribera d’Alcalà

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

    G. C. Carrada & O. Mangoni

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  1. V. Saggiomo
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  2. G. C. Carrada
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  3. O. Mangoni
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  4. D. Marino
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  5. M. Ribera d’Alcalà
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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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Saggiomo, V., Carrada, G.C., Mangoni, O., Marino, D., d’Alcalà, M.R. (2000). Ecological and Physiological Aspects of Primary Production in the Ross Sea. 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_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59607-0_20

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

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