Abstract
Vertical distributions of coccolithophores were observed in the depth range 0–50 m in the western subarctic Pacific and western Bering Sea in summer, 1997. Thirty-five species of coccolithophores were collected. Overall, Emiliania huxleyi var. huxleyi was the most abundant taxon, accounting for 82.8% of all coccolithophores, although it was less abundant in the western Bering Sea. Maximum abundance of this species was found in an area south of 41°N and east of 175°E (Transition Zone) reaching >10,000 cells L−1 in the water column. In addition to this species, Coccolithus pelagicus f. pelagicus, which accounted for 4.2% of the assemblage, was representative of the coccolithophore standing crop in the western part of the subarctic Pacific. Coccolithus pelagicus f. hyalinus was relatively abundant in the Bering Sea, accounting for 2.6% of the assemblage. Coccolithophore standing crops in the top 50 m were high south of 41°N (>241 × 106 cells m−2) and east of 170°E (542 × 106 cells m−2) where temperatures were higher than 12°C and salinities were greater than 34.2. The lowest standing crop was observed in the Bering Sea and Oyashio areas where temperatures were lower than 6–10°C and salinities were less than 33.0. From the coccolithophore volumes, the calcite stocks in the Transition, Subarctic, and the Bering Sea regions were estimated to be 73.0, 9.7, and 6.9 mg m−2, respectively, corresponding to calcite fluxes of 3.6, 0.5, and 0.3 mg m−2d−1 using Stoke's Law.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alcober, J. and R. W. Jordan (1997): An interesting association between Neosphaera coccolithomorphaand Ceratolithus cristatus(Haptophyta). British Phycol. J., 32, 91–93.
Baduini, C. L., K. D. Hyrenback, K. O. Coyle, A. Pinchuk, V. Mendenhall and G. L. Hunt, Jr. (2001): Mass mortality of short-tailed shearwaters in the south-eastern Bering Sea during summer 1997. Fish. Oceanogr., 10, 117–130.
Balch, W. M., P. M. Holligan, S. G. Ackleson and K. J. Voss (1991): Biological and optical properties of mesoscale coccolithophore blooms in the Gulf of Maine. Limnol. Oceanogr., 36, 629–643.
Balch, W. M., P. M. Holligan and K. A. Kilpatrick (1992): Calcification, photosynthesis and growth of the bloom-forming coccolithophore, Emiliania huxleyi. Cont. Shelf Res., 12, 1353–1374.
Banse, K. and D. C. English (1999): Comparing phytoplankton seasonality in the eastern and western subarctic Pacific and the western Bering Sea. Prog. Oceanogr., 43, 235–288.
Braarud, T. (1979): The temperature range of the non-motile stage of Coccolithus pelagicusin the North Atlantic region. British Phycol. J., 14, 349–352.
Broerse, A. T. C., P. Ziveri and S. Honjo (2000): Coccolithophore (-CaCO3) flux in the Sea of Okhotsk: seasonality, settling and alteration processes. Mar. Micropaleontol., 39, 179–200.
Burkill, P. H., S. D. Archer, C. Robinson, P. D. Nightingale, S. B. Groom, G. A. Tarran and M. V. Zubkov (2002): Dimethyl sulphide biogeochemistry within a coccolithophore bloom (DISCO): an overview. Deep-Sea Res. II, 49, 2863–2885.
Dodimead, A. J., F. Favorite and T. Hirano (1963): Salmon of the North Pacific Ocean. Part II. Review of the oceanography of the subarctic Pacific region. Int. North Pac. Fish. Comm. Bull., 13, 195 pp.
Favorite, F., A. J. Dodimead and K. Nasu (1976): Oceanography of the subarctic Pacific region, 1960-1971. Int. North Pac. Fish. Comm. Bull., 31, 187 pp.
Geisen, M., C. Billard, A. T. C. Broerse, L. Cros, I. Probert and J. R. Young (2002): Life-cycle associations involving pairs of holococcolithophorid species: intraspecific variation or cryptic speciation? Euro. J. Phycol., 37, 531–550.
Hayashi, M., K. Furuya and H. Hattori (2001): Spatial heterogenieity in distribution of chlorophyll aderivatives in the subarctic North Pacific during summer. J. Oceanogr., 57, 323–331.
Holligan, P. M., S. B. Groom and D. S. Harbour (1993a): What controls the distribution of the coccolithophore, Emiliania huxleyi, in the North Sea? Fish. Oceanogr., 2, 175–183.
Holligan, P. M., E. Fernandez, J. Aiken, W. M. Balch, P. Boyd, P. H. Burkill, M. Finch, S. B. Groom, G. Malin, K. Muller, D. A. Purdie, C. Robinson, C. C. Trees, S. M. Turner and P. van der Wal (1993b): A biogeochemical study of the coccolithophore, Emiliania huxleyi, in the North Atlantic. Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 7, 879–900.
Honda, M. C., K. Imai, Y. Nojiri, F. Hoshi, T. Sugawara and M. Kusakabe (2002): The biological pump in the northwestern North Pacific based on fluxes and major components of particulate matter obtained by sediment-trap experiments (1997-2000). Deep-Sea Res. II, 49, 5595–5629.
McIntyre, A., A. W. H. Be and M. B. Roche (1970): Modern Pacific Coccolithophorida: a paleontological thermometer. Trans. N.Y. Acad. Sci., Ser. II, 32, 720–731.
Minobe, S. (2002): Interannual to interdecadal changes in the Bering Sea and concurrent 1998/99 changes over the North Pacific. Prog. Oceanogr., 55, 45–64.
Nagasawa, K., N. D. Davis and Y. Uwano (1998): Japan-US cooperative high-seas salmonid research aboard the R/V Wakatake Maru from June 11 to July 25, 1997. Salmon Rep. Ser., 45, 161–194, Nat. Res. Inst. Far Seas Fish., Shimizu.
Nishida, S. (1979): Atlas of Pacific Nannoplanktons. Micropaleontol. Soc. Osaka., Spec. Paper No. 3, 1–31 (cited from Winter et al., 1994).
Noriki, S. and S. Tsunogai (1986): Particulate fluxes and major components of settling particles from sediment trap experiments in the Pacific Ocean. Deep-Sea Res., 33, 903–912.
Odate, T. (1996): Abundance and size composition of the summer phytoplankton communities in the western North Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea, and the Gulf of Alaska. J. Oceanogr., 52, 335–351.
Okada, H. and S. Honjo (1973): The distribution of oceanic coccolithophorids in the Pacific. Deep-Sea Res., 20, 355–374.
Okada, H. and A. McIntyre (1979): Modern coccolithophores of the Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans. Micropalentol., 23, 1–55.
Olson, M. B. and S. L. Strom (2002): Phytoplankton growth, microzooplankton herbivory and community structure in the southeast Bering Sea: insight into the formation and temporal persistence of an Emiliania huxleyibloom. Deep-Sea Res. II, 49, 5969–5990.
Paasche, E. (2002): A review of the coccolithophorid Emiliania huxleyi(Prymnesiophyceae), with particular reference to growth, coccolith formation, and calcification-photosynthesis interactions. Phycologia, 40, 503–529.
Parsons, T. R., Y. Maita and C. M. Lalli (1984): A Manual of Chemical and Biological Methods for Seawater Analysis. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 173 pp.
Shiomoto, A., Y. Ishida, K. Nagasawa, K. Tadokoro, M. Takahashi and K. Monaka (1999): Distribution of chlorophyll-aconcentration in the Transition Domain and adjacent regions of the central North Pacific in summer. Plankton Biol. Ecol., 46, 30–36.
Sprengel, C. and J. R. Young (2000): First direct documentation of associations of Ceratolithus cristatusceratoliths, hoop-coccoliths and Neosphaera coccolithomorphaplanoliths. Mar. Micropaleontol., 39, 39–41.
Stockwell, D. A., T. E. Whitledge, S. I. Zeeman, K. O. Coyle, J. M. Napp, R. D. Brodeur, A. I. Pinchuk and G. L. Hunt, Jr. (2001): Anomalous conditions in the south-eastern Bering Sea, 1997: nutrients, phytoplankton and zooplankton. Fish. Oceanogr., 10, 99–116.
Takahashi, K., N. Fujitani, M. Yanada and Y. Maita (2000): Long-term biogenic particle fluxes in the Bering Sea and the central subarctic Pacific Ocean, 1990-1995. Deep-Sea Res. I, 47, 1723–1759.
Takahashi, W., T. Hiwatari, H. Fukushima, M. Toratani and T. Akano (1995): High-reflectance waters of possible coccolithophore blooms in NW Pacific-Analysis of 1979-86 Nimbus-7/CZCS data set-. Umi no Kenkyu, 4, 477–486 (in Japanese with English abstract).
Tominaga, T. (1998): Seasonal change in coccolith flux in the Bering Sea and the subarctic North Pacific. Master thesis, Hokkaido Tokai University, 21 pp. + 44 tables, figs., and plate (in Japanese).
Westbroek, P., C. W. Brown, J. van Bleijswijk, C. Brownlee, G. J. Brummer, M. Conte, J. Egge, E. Fernandez, R. Jordan, M. Knappertsbusch, J. Stefels, M. Beldhuis, P. van der Wal and J. Young (1993): A model system approach to biological climate forcing. The example of Emiliania huxleyi. Global and Planetary Change, 8, 27–76.
Winter, A. and W. G. Siesser (1994): Atlas of living coccolithophores. p. 107–159. In Coccolithophores, ed. by A. Winter and W. G. Siesser, Cambridge Univ. Press.
Winter, A., R. W. Jordan and P. H. Roth (1994): Biogeography of living coccolitho-hores in ocean waters. p. 161–177. In Coccolithophores, ed. by A. Winter and W. G. Siesser, Cambridge Univ. Press.
Wong, C. S., N. A. D. Waser, Y. Nojiri, F. A. Whitney, J. S. Page and J. Zeng (2002): Seasonal cycles of nutrients and dissolved inorganic carbon at high and mid latitudes in the North Pacific Ocean during the Skaugran cruises: determination of new production and nutrient uptake ratios. Deep-Sea Res. II, 49, 5317–5338.
Young, J. R. (1994): Functions of coccoliths. p. 63–82. In Coccolithophores, ed. by A. Winter and W. G. Siesser, Cambridge Univ. Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hattori, H., Koike, M., Tachikawa, K. et al. Spatial Variability of Living Coccolithophore Distribution in the Western Subarctic Pacific and Western Bering Sea. Journal of Oceanography 60, 505–515 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOCE.0000038063.81738.ab
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOCE.0000038063.81738.ab