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The distribution of picoplankton and nanoplankton in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard during late summer 2006

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Abstract

Abundance and biomass of pico- (<2 μm) and nanoplankton (2–20 μm) were investigated in relation to hydrography in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard (79°N, 12°E) during late summer 2006. Autotrophic and heterotrophic picoplankton abundance ranged from 0.1 × 106 to 35.2 × 106 cells L−1 and from 0.4 × 106 to 20.3 × 106 cells L−1, respectively. The highest number of bacteria in the entire water column was recorded at station 2 at 10 m (22.3 × 108 cells L−1); the lowest concentration was observed at station 1 (6.0 × 108 cells L−1). The abundance of autotrophic and heterotrophic nanoplankton varied from 0.4 × 105 cells L−1 to 46 × 105 cells L−1 and from 0.3 × 106 to 9.1 × 106 cells L−1, respectively. Our results demonstrated that heterotrophic nanoflagellates and bacteria in Kongsfjorden microbial community were relatively important. The structure of plankton communities integrated with environmental variables could act as indicators of the variability of the inflow of Atlantic Water into Kongsfjorden.

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Acknowledgment

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40576002, 40806073, 40776003); the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (No. 052307053); the Youth Marine Science Foundation of SOA (No. 2008128); the Resource Sharing Platform of Polar Samples (2005DKA21406), and the Polar Strategic Research Foundation of China. We thank Dr. Chaolun Li and Mr. Hongliang Li for their field work and YY. Lou and JM. Liu for their technical and statistical assistance. Thanks for the review’s critical suggestion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oceanography, State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, 361005, Xiamen, China

    Guizhong Wang & Chaoying Guo

  2. SOA Key Laboratory for Polar Science, Polar Research Institute of China, 200136, Shanghai, China

    Chaoying Guo, Wei Luo, Minghong Cai & Jianfeng He

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  1. Guizhong Wang
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  2. Chaoying Guo
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  3. Wei Luo
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  4. Minghong Cai
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  5. Jianfeng He
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Correspondence to Jianfeng He.

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Wang, G., Guo, C., Luo, W. et al. The distribution of picoplankton and nanoplankton in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard during late summer 2006. Polar Biol 32, 1233–1238 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-009-0666-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-009-0666-6

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