Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Floristic and physiological differences between the shallow and the deep nanophytoplankton community in the euphotic zone of the open tropical Atlantic revealed by HPLC analysis of pigments

  • Published:
Marine Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Suspended matter sampled in 1982 in the North Equatorial Current, in the open Atlantic to the west of West Africa, was analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography. The pigment fingerprint of samples taken in the surface mixed layer was dominated by zeaxanthin and chlorophyll a, in agreement with observed dominance of coccoid cyanobacteria. Near the bottom of the euphotic zone the fingerprint was more complicated, with a sharp transition at the depth of the deep chlorophyll maximum layer to dominance of chlorophyll b, 19′-hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin and an unknown fucoxanthin derivative in the lower part of this layer; this fingerprint suggests dominance of eukaryotes (green algae, Prymnesiophyceae and Chrysophyceae) at depth. Up to 90% of the chl a was contained in particles smaller than 8 μm, and in the surface mixed layer even more than 50% in particles smaller than 1 μm. The high concentration of zeaxanthin relative to chl a near the surface suggests adaptation of the cyanobacteria to exposure to high irradiance. Evidence of this adaptation was the very high specific phytoplankton growth rate between sunrise and sunset (μ=0.16 h-1), measured by recording 14C incorporation into organic carbon and into chl a carbon after isolation of the latter by HPLC. The high concentration of chl b relative to chl a at depth was possibly caused by shade-adapted green algae containing more chl b than chl a. The specific growth rate of the deep “shade” community was low (μ<0.04 h-1), yet net primary production, calculated on the basis of chl a increase during incubation, was greatest at depth.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Literature cited

  • Abaychi, J. K. and J. P. Riley: The determination of phytoplankton pigments by high-performance liquid chromatography. Analytica chim. Acta 107, 1–11 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, G. C.: Subsurface chlorophyll maximum in the northeast Pacific Ocean. Limnol. Oceanogr. 14, 386–391 (1969)

    Google Scholar 

  • Arpin, N., W. A. Svec and S. Liaaen-Jensen: New fucoxanthinrelated carotenoids from Coccolithus huxleyi. Phytochemistry 15, 529–532 (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  • Atkins, W. R. G.: Autotrophic flagellates as the major constitutent of the oceanic phytoplankton. Nature, Lond. 156, 446–447 (1935)

    Google Scholar 

  • Baars, M. A., J. J. Zijlstra and S. B. Tijssen: Investigations in the euphotic zone of the tropical North Atlantic: programme and hydrography during the NECTAR cruises. Neth. J. Sea Res. 13, 40–57 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailey-Watts, A. E., M. E. Bindloss and J. H. Belcher: Freshwater primary production by a blue-green Alga of bacterial size. Nature, Lond. 220, 1344–1345 (1968)

    Google Scholar 

  • Barlow, R. G. and R. S. Alberte: Photosynthetic characteristics of phycoerythrin-containing marine Synechococcus spp. I. Responses to growth photon flux density. Mar. Biol. 86, 63–74 (1985)

    Google Scholar 

  • Betzer, P. R., W. J. Showers, E. A. Laws, C. D. Winn, G. R. Di Tullio and P. M. Kroopnick: Primary productivity and particle fluxes on a transect of the equator at 153°W in the Pacific Ocean. Deep-Sea Res. 31, 1–11 (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  • Bienfang, P. and M. Takahashi: Ultraplankton growth rates in a subtropical ecosystem. Mar. Biol. 76, 213–218 (1983)

    Google Scholar 

  • Bjørnland, T., F. Pennington, F. T. Haxo and S. Liaaen-Jensen: Carotenoids of Chrysophyceae and Dinophyceae: “Coc. min. Haltenbanken” and Gymnodinium breve (Florida Red Tide). Abstr. 7th Int. IUPAC Carotenoid Symp. (Munich), 26 (1984)

  • Cuhel, R. L., P. B. Ortner and D. R. S. Lean: Night synthesis of protein by algae. Limnol. Oceanogr. 29, 731–744 (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  • Czygan, F.-C.: Sekundär-Carotinoide in Grünalgen. Arch. Mikrobiol. 62, 209–236 (1968)

    Google Scholar 

  • Durbin, E. G., R. W. Krawiec and T. J. Smayda: Seasonal studies on the relative importance of different size fractions of phytoplankton in Narragansett Bay (USA). Mar. Biol. 32, 271–287 (1975)

    Google Scholar 

  • Eppley, R. W., E. H. Renger, E. L. Venrick and M. M. Mullin: A study of plankton dynamics and nutrient cycling in the central gyre of the North Pacific Ocean. Limnol. Oceanogr. 18, 534–551 (1973)

    Google Scholar 

  • Eppley, R. W. and B. J. Peterson: Particulate organic matter flux and planktonic new production in the deep ocean. Nature, Lond. 282, 677–680 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiksdahl, A., P. Foss, S. Liaaen-Jensen and H. W. Siegelman: Carotenoids of blue-green algae. 11. Carotenoids of chromatically-adapted cyanobacteria. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 76B, 599–601 (1983)

    Google Scholar 

  • Foppen, F. H.: Tables for the identification of carotenoid pigments. Chromat. Rev. 14, 133–298 (1971)

    Google Scholar 

  • Furuya, K. and R. Marumo: The structure of the phytoplankton community in the subsurface chlorophyll maxima in the western North Pacific Ocean. J. Plankton Res. 5, 393–406 (1983a)

    Google Scholar 

  • Furuya, K. and R. Marumo: Size distribution of phytoplankton in the western Pacific Ocean and adjacent waters in summer. Bull. Plankton Soc. Japan 30, 21–32 (1983b)

    Google Scholar 

  • Gieskes, W. W. C. and G. W. Kraay: Unknown chlorophyll a derivatives in the North Sea and the tropical Atlantic Ocean revealed by HPLC analysis. Limnol. Oceanogr. 28, 757–766 (1983)

    Google Scholar 

  • Gieskes, W. W. C. and G. W. Kraay: State-of-the-art in the measurement of primary production. In: Flows of energy and materials in marine ecosystems, pp 171–190. Ed. by M. J. R. Fasham. New York: Plenum Press 1984a

    Google Scholar 

  • Gieskes, W. W. C. and G. W. Kraay: Phytoplankton, its pigments, and primary production at a central North Sea station in May, July and September 1981. Neth. J. Sea Res. 18, 51–70 (1984b)

    Google Scholar 

  • Gieskes, W. W. C. and G. W. Kraay: Analysis of phytoplankton pigments by HPLC before, during and after mass occurrence of the microflagellate Corymbellus aureus Green during the spring bloom in the northern North Sea in 1983. Mar. Biol. 92 (1986)

  • Gieskes, W. W. C., G. W. Kraay and S. B. Tijssen: Chlorophylls and their degradation products in the deep pigment maximum layer of the tropical North Atlantic. Neth. J. Sea. Res. 12, 195–204 (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  • Glibert, P. M.: Regional studies of daily, seasonal, and size fraction variability in ammonium remineralization. Mar. Biol. 70, 209–222 (1982)

    Google Scholar 

  • Glover, H. E., A. E. Smith and L. Shapiro: Diurnal variations in photosynthetic rates: comparisons of ultraphytoplankton with a larger phytoplankton size fraction. J Plankton Res. 7, 519–535 (1985)

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldman, J. C.: Oceanic nutrient cycles. In: Flows of energy and materials in marine ecosystems, pp 137–170. Ed. by M. J. R. Fasham. New York: Plenum Press 1984

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldman, J. C., J. J. McCarthy and D. G. Peavey: Growth rate influence on the chemical composition of phytoplankton in oceanic waters. Nature, Lond. 279, 210–215 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  • Guillard, R. R. L., L. S. Murphy, P. Foss and S. Liaaen-Jensen: Synechococcus spp. as likely zeaxanthin-dominant ultraphytoplankton in the North Atlantic. Limnol. Oceanogr. 30, 412–414 (1985)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hager, A. and T. Meyer-Bertenrath: Die Identifizierung der an Dünnschchten getrennten Carotinoide grüner Blätter und Algen. Planta 76, 149–168 (1967)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hasle, G. R.: A quantitative study of phytoplankton from the equatorial Pacific. Deep-Sea Res. 6, 38–59 (1959)

    Google Scholar 

  • Herbland, A. and A. Le Bouteiller: Dynamique du phytoplancton et matière organique particulaire dans la zone euphotique de l'Atlantique Equatorial. Mar. Biol. 72, 265–278 (1983)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hewes, C. D. and O. Holm-Hansen: A method for recovering nanoplankton from filters for identification with the microscope: the filter-transfer-freeze (FTF) technique. Limnol. Oceanogr. 28, 389–394 (1983)

    Google Scholar 

  • Holm-Hansen, O., C. J. Lorenzen, R. W. Holmes and J. D. H. Strickland: Fluorometric determination of chlorophyll. J. Cons. perm. int. Explor. Mer 30, 3–15 (1965)

    Google Scholar 

  • Honjo, S.: Material fluxes and modes of sedimentation in the mesopelagic and bathypelagic zones. J. mar. Res. 38, 53–97 (1980)

    Google Scholar 

  • Jamart, B. M., D. F. Winter, K. Banse, G. C. Anderson and R. K. Lamm: A theoretical study of phytoplankton growth and nutrient distribution in the Pacific Ocean off the northwestern U.S. coast. Deep-Sea Res. 24, 753–773 (1977)

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeffrey, S. W.: A report of green algal pigments in the central North Pacific Ocean. Mar. Biol. 37, 33–37 (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeffrey, S. W.: Responses of unicellular marine plants to natural blue-green light environments. In: Blue light effects in biological systems, pp 497–508. Ed. by H. Senger. Berlin-Heidelberg: Springer Verlag 1984

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins, W. J. and J. C. Goldman: Seasonal oxygen cycling and primary production in the Sargasso Sea. J. mar. Res. 465–491 (1985)

  • Jerlov, N. G.: Maxima in the vertical distribution of particles in the sea. Deep-Sea Res. 5, 173–184 (1959)

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein, P. and B. Coste: Effects of wind-stress variability on nutrient transport into the mixed layer. Deep-Sea Res. 31, 21–37 (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  • Laws, E. A.: Improved estimates of phytoplankton carbon based on 14C incorporation into chlorophyll a. J. theor. Biol. 110, 425–434 (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, J., R. E. Norris, S. W. Jeffrey and B. E. Pearson: An aberrant Chrysophycean alga Pelagococcus subviridis gen. nov. et spec. nov. from the North Pacific Ocean. J. Phycol. 13, 259–266 (1977)

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, W. K. W., D. V. Subba Rao, W. G. Harrison, J. C. Smith, J. J. Cullen, B. Irwin and T. Platt: Autotrophic picoplankton in the Tropical Ocean. Science, N.Y. 219, 292–295 (1983)

    Google Scholar 

  • Loftus, M. E. and J. H. Carpenter: A fluorometric method for determining chlorophylls a, b and c. J. Mar. Res. 29, 319–338 (1971)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorenzen, C. J.: Vertical distribution of chlorophyll and phaeopigments: Baja California. Deep-Sea Res. 14, 735–745 (1967)

    Google Scholar 

  • Malone, T. C.: Algal size. In: Physiological ecology of phytoplankton. Berkeley: Univ. Calif. Press 1980

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy, J. J. and J. C. Goldman: Nitrogenous nutrition of marine phytoplankton in nutrient-depleted waters. Science, N.Y. 203, 670–672 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  • Mantoura, R. F. C. and C. A. Llewellyn: The rapid determination of algal chlorophyll and carotenoid pigments and their breakdown products in natural waters by reverse-phase highperformance liquid chromatography. Anal. Chim. Acta 151, 297–314 (1983)

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy, J. J. and E. J. Carpenter: Oscillatoria (Trichodesmium) tiebautii (Cyanophyta) in the central North Atlantic Ocean. J. Phycol. 15, 75–82 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  • Moll, R. A., M. Z. Brahce and T. P. Peterson: Phytoplankton dynamics within the subsurface chlorophyll maximum of lake Michican. J. Plankton Res. 6, 751–766 (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris, I. and H. Glover: Physiology of photosynthesis by marine coccoid cyanobacteria — some ecological implications. Limnol. Oceanogr. 26, 957–961 (1981)

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris, I., A. E. Smith and H. E. Glover: Products of photosynthesis in phytoplankton off the Orinoco River and in the Caribbean Sea. Limnol. Oceanogr. 26, 1034–1044 (1981)

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, L. S. and E. Haugen: The distribution and abundance of phototrophic ultraplankton in the North Atlantic. Limnol. Oceanogr. 30, 47–58 (1985)

    Google Scholar 

  • Paerl, H. W., J. Tucker and P. T. Bland: Carotenoid enhancement and its role in maintaining blue-green algal (Microcystis aeruginosa) surface blooms. Limnol. Oceanogr. 28, 847–857 (1983)

    Google Scholar 

  • Prézelin, B. B., M. Putt and H. Glover: Diurnal patterns in photosynthetic capacity and depth-dependent photosynthesisirradiance relationships in Synechococcus spp. and larger phytoplankton in three water masses in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. Mar. Biol. 91, 205–217 (1986)

    Google Scholar 

  • Redalje, D. G. and E. A. Laws: A new method for estimating phytoplankton growth rates and carbon biomass. Mar. Biol. 62, 73–79 (1981)

    Google Scholar 

  • Redalje, D. G.: Phytoplankton carbon biomass and specific growth rates determined with the labelled chlorophyll a technique. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 11, 217–225 (1983)

    Google Scholar 

  • Saijo, Y., S. Iizuka and O. Asaoka: Chlorophyll maxima in Kuroshio and adjacent area. Mar. Biol. 4, 190–196 (1969)

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, R. E. H., W. G. Harrison and L. Harris: Phosphorus exchange in marine microplankton communities near Hawaii. Mar. Biol. 86, 75–84 (1985)

    Google Scholar 

  • Sournia, A.: Circadian periodicities in natural populations of marine phytoplankton. Adv. mar. Biol. 12, 325–389 (1974)

    Google Scholar 

  • Sournia, A.: Is there a shade flora in the marine plankton? J. Plankton Res. 4, 391–399 (1982)

    Google Scholar 

  • Spitzer, D. and M. Wernand: Photon scalar irradiance meter. Appl. Opt. 18, 1698–1700 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  • Steele, J. H. and C. S. Yentsch: The vertical distribution of chlorophyll. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K. 39, 217–226 (1960)

    Google Scholar 

  • Steele, J. H.: A study of production in the Gulf of Mexico. J. mar. Res. 22, 211–222 (1964)

    Google Scholar 

  • Steemann Nielsen, E.: The use of radioactive carbon (14C) for measuring organic production in the sea. J. Cons. perm. int. Explor. Mer 18, 117–140 (1952)

    Google Scholar 

  • Taguchi, S.: Phytoplankton photosynthesis in the subsurface chlorophyll-maximum layer of the tropical North Pacific Ocean. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 43, 87–98 (1980)

    Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi, M. and T. Hori: Abundance of picophytoplankton in the subsurface chlorophyll maximum layer in subtropical and tropical waters. Mar. Biol. 79, 177–186 (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  • Venrick, E. L., J. A. McGowan and A. W. Mantyla: Deep maxima of photosynthetic chlorophyll in the Pacific Ocean. Fish. Bull. 71, 41–52 (1973)

    Google Scholar 

  • Venrick, E. L.: Phytoplankton in an cligotrophic ocean: observations and questions. Ecol. Monogr. 52, 129–154 (1982)

    Google Scholar 

  • Vinogradov, M. E., I. I. Gitelzon and Yu. I. Sorokin: The vertical structure of a pelagic community in the tropical ocean. Mar. Biol. 6, 187–194 (1970)

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, A. and M. Wettern: Some remarks on the usefulness of algal carotenoids as chemotaxonomic markers. In: Pigments in plants, pp 104–116. Stuttgart-New York: Gustav Fischer Verlag (1980)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, P.O. Box 59, NL-1790 AB, Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands

    W. W. Gieskes & G. W. Kraay

Authors
  1. W. W. Gieskes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. G. W. Kraay
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Communicated by D. Kinne, Oldendorf/Luhe

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gieskes, W.W., Kraay, G.W. Floristic and physiological differences between the shallow and the deep nanophytoplankton community in the euphotic zone of the open tropical Atlantic revealed by HPLC analysis of pigments. Marine Biology 91, 567–576 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00392609

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00392609

Keywords

Search

Navigation