Abstract
Although the northern Bering Sea is one of the most productive regions in the northern North Pacific Ocean and currently considered a declining productivity region, no recent primary productivity measurements have been collected in this region. Phytoplankton productivity was measured in the northern Bering Sea in 2007 using a dual 13C–15N isotope tracer technique to quantify present rates of primary productivity and to assess changes under recent environmental conditions in this area. We found that large diatoms (mostly Fragilaria sp.) dominated the phytoplankton during the initial part of the cruise, whereas unidentified nano + pico phytoplankton largely dominated at the surface about 2 weeks later (at “revisited stations”). At the 1% light depth, diatoms and Phaeocystis sp. were the dominant species, whereas diatoms and unidentified nano + pico cells were dominant at the revisited sites. Based on nitrate and ammonium uptake rates, the estimated f-ratios (the ratio of nitrate uptake rate/nitrate + ammonium uptake rates of phytoplankton) were high (0.65–0.74), indicating that nitrate was an important nitrogen source supporting primary production in the northern Bering Sea during the cruise in 2007. Compared with previous studies performed several decades ago, we found significantly lower chlorophyll-a concentrations and carbon uptake rates of phytoplankton in the northern Bering Sea in 2007. This is consistent with recent studies that have shown lower rates of production in the Chukchi Sea and declines in benthic biomass and sediment oxygen uptake in the northern Bering Sea.
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Acknowledgments
We thank J. Grebmeier and L. Cooper who helped with sample collection onboard. We also would like to thank the crew members of the USCGC Healy, X. Cui, J. Zhao, and others who assisted with sample collections at sea. This research was supported by the Korea Research Foundation (KRIF) grant funded by the Korea government (MEST) (No. 2011–0007761). This study was also supported by the Research Fund Program of Research Institute for Basic Sciences, Pusan National University, Korea, 2010 (Project No. RIBS-PNU-2010-0613323) and research support for TEW was provided by the NOAA Office of Arctic Research through CIFAR grant NA080AR4320751.
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Lee, S.H., Joo, H.M., Yun, M.S. et al. Recent phytoplankton productivity of the northern Bering Sea during early summer in 2007. Polar Biol 35, 83–98 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-011-1035-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-011-1035-9