Abstract
As an extensive and less explored ecosystem on earth, the deep-sea system provides various topographical environments for organisms therein. Here we quantitatively investigated the microphytoplankton and calcified nanophytoplankton community structure in the epipelagic water (0–200 m), middle water (300–500 m), and bathypelagic dark water (1000–3000 m) of the eastern Indian Ocean (EIO) approximately 5°N, which was characterized by high-level eddy kinetic energy. We diagnosed five phytoplankton functional groups (diatoms, dinoflagellates, coccolithophores, diazotrophs, and chrysophytes) in the epipelagic and middle water, and four groups (with the absence of dinoflagellates) in the deep-sea water. A relatively considerable cell abundance and carbon biomass of diatoms (5.2% and 7.3%), in particular centric diatoms, cyanobacteria (5.8% and 5.5%) and living coccolithophores (2.4% and 2%) were recorded in the deep-sea (> 1000 m) water compared to the epipelagic layer (< 200 m). Abundant diazotrophs were observed in the near-surface water of the study area. We highlighted that, the underlying “carbon–nitrogen coupling” organic matter pathway, fueled by nitrogen fixation (mainly > 10 μm diazotrophs), plays important roles in transporting the high-dominance of diatoms (especially their centric forms) and living calcifying coccolithophores to the deep ocean. Our results imply that photic nutrient deficiency and mineral ballasting (opal and calcite ballasting) are responsible for the massive and fast-sinking aggregates (and fecal pellets) consisting of large and rapidly growing centric diatoms and living coccolithophores. This biochemical factor coupled with physical forcing such as cyclonic eddies, could be a significant process promoting deep-sea biological carbon pump efficiency in the EIO. Our findings may have implications for a better understanding of biological carbon pump mechanisms and biological-physical relevance under the current tropical sites.
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Data pertaining to this work are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
There are no financial conflicts of interest in this study. Special thanks to the Open Cruise Project in the eastern Indian Ocean of National Natural Science Foundation of China (NORC2017-10) for sharing their ship time.
Funding
The present research work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41876134, 41676112 and 41276124) and the Science Fund for University Creative Research Groups in Tianjin (TD12-5003), the Tianjin 131 Innovation Team Program (20180314) and the Changjiang Scholar Program of Chinese Ministry of Education of China (T2014253) to Jun Sun. This research was also financially supported by State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences (No. GKZ21Y645 and GKZ22Y656).
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HL performed the sample analysis and drafted the paper; CW and WX participated the field cruise and assisted the sampling; YG, MY, XZ and ST gave constructive comments and revised the entire manuscript; JS conceived and designed the experiment.
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Liu, H., Guo, Y., Yun, M. et al. Massive presence of intact microalgal cells in the deep ocean near 5°N of the eastern Indian Ocean. Mar Biol 169, 100 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-022-04081-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-022-04081-4