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Variability of the microbial community in the western Antarctic Peninsula from late fall to spring during a low ice cover year

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Abstract

Although winter conditions play a major role in determining the productivity of the western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) waters for the following spring and summer, a few studies have dealt with the seasonal variability of microorganisms in the WAP in winter. Moreover, because of regional warming, sea-ice retreat is happening earlier in spring, at the onset of the production season. In this context, this study describes the dynamics of the marine microbial community in the Melchior Archipelago (WAP) from fall to spring 2006. Samples were collected monthly to biweekly at four depths from the surface to the aphotic layer. The abundance and carbon content of bacteria, phytoplankton and microzooplankton were analyzed using flow cytometry and inverted microscopy, and bacterial richness was examined by PCR–DGGE. As expected, due to the extreme environmental conditions, the microbial community abundance and biomass were low in fall and winter. Bacterial abundance ranged from 1.2 to 2.8 × 105 cells ml−1 showing a slight increase in spring. Phytoplankton biomass was low and dominated by small cells (<2 μm) in fall and winter (average chlorophyll a concentration, Chl-a, of, respectively, 0.3 and 0.13 μg l−1). Phytoplankton biomass increased in spring (Chl-a up to 1.13 μg l−1), and, despite potentially adequate growth conditions, this rise was small and phytoplankton was still dominated by small cells (2–20 μm). In addition, the early disappearing of sea-ice in spring 2006 let the surface water exposed to ultraviolet B radiations (UVBR, 280–320 nm), which seemed to have a negative impact on the microbial community in surface waters.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the NSERC Special Research Opportunity Program grant nr. 334876-2005 conceded to Serge Demers. Daily stratospheric ozone concentrations over the study site were obtained from http://toms.gsfc.nasa.gov/. The 2006 SMMR-SSM/I sea-ice concentration data were obtained from the EOS Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado (http://nsidc.org). We would like to thank Sylvie Lessard for her help in identifying microorganisms under an inverted microscope. We would also like to thank Damian López, as well as the Sedna IV crew and his leader Jean Lemire, for their strong support during the field sampling in Antarctica.

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  1. Institut des sciences de la mer de Rimouski (ISMER), Université du Québec à Rimouski, 310 allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, Québec, G5L 3A1, Canada

    Sébastien Moreau, Gustavo A. Ferreyra, Bernard Mercier, Karine Lemarchand, Marie Lionard, Suzanne Roy, Sébastien Roy & Serge Demers

  2. Instituto Antártico Argentino, Cerrito 1248 (1010), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Gustavo A. Ferreyra

  3. Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Institute of Ocean Sciences, 9860 West Saanich Road, Sidney, BC, V8L 4B, Canada

    Bon van Hardenberg

  4. Laboratoire Écosystèmes Lagunaires, UMR 5119 (Université Montpellier 2, CNRS, IFREMER, IRD), Case 093, 34095, Montpellier Cedex 05, France

    Behzad Mostajir

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  1. Sébastien Moreau
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Moreau, S., Ferreyra, G.A., Mercier, B. et al. Variability of the microbial community in the western Antarctic Peninsula from late fall to spring during a low ice cover year. Polar Biol 33, 1599–1614 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-010-0806-z

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