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Main Species Characteristics of Phytoplankton Spring Blooms in NE Atlantic and Arctic Waters (68–80° N)

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Abstract

A compilation of phytoplankton species abundance data from the spring bloom along the northern Norwegian coast and in the Barents Sea shows that the quantitatively most important species are the prymnesiophyte Phaeocystis pouchetii and the common cold water to temperate diatoms Chaetoceros socialis, Skeletonema costatum sensu lato, Fragilariopsis oceanica, Thalassiosira spp., Chaetoceros furcellatus, Chaetoceros compressus, Chaetoceros debilis and Bacterosira bathyomphala. The relative abundance of diatoms and Phaeocystis varied highly and apparently stochastically between years. P. pouchetii occurred during all stages of the spring bloom and sometimes completely dominated the phytoplankton community. Along the Norwegian coast, the importance of P. pouchetii increased northwards. The species composition in coastal fjords at 70° N is surprisingly similar to that of shelf waters in the Barents Sea (up to 80° N). An exception is S. costatum sensu lato which was seldom observed in Arctic waters. Small flagellates (<10 µm) other than dinoflagellates and P. pouchetii are also important among the Barents Sea spring phytoplankton. Associations of species seem rigid over time and are dominated by C. socialis and P. pouchetii in northern waters. Biogeographical categories of spring bloom species in relation to environmental conditions are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to salute everybody contributing to the gathering and counting of phytoplankton samples over the years, the results of which are compiled in this study. Thank you for spending time on this slow science! We also acknowledge the organizers of the Chapman Conference on Long Time-Series Observations in Coastal Ecosystems (8–12 October 2007 in Rovinj, Croatia) for trying to synthesize existing long-term data on phytoplankton, stressing the importance of the maintenance of such data series, and thereby also pointing at the obvious lack of phytoplankton data series in many areas. Comments from two anonymous reviewers greatly improved the quality of the manuscript.

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  1. University of Tromsø, 9037, Tromsø, Norway

    Maria Degerlund & Hans Christian Eilertsen

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  1. Maria Degerlund
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Correspondence to Maria Degerlund.

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Appendix

Appendix

Table 4 The three most abundant phytoplankton species in March (maximum cell numbers, exclusive of flagellates other than P. pouchetii and E. huxleyi) from the coast of northern Norway and south to the Arctic Circle (Fig. 1)
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Table 5 The three most abundant phytoplankton species in April (maximum cell numbers, exclusive of flagellates other than P. pouchetii and E. huxleyi) from northern Norway and south to the Arctic Circle (Fig. 1)
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Table 6 The three most abundant phytoplankton species in May (maximum cell numbers, exclusive of flagellates other than P. pouchetii) from the coast of northern Norway and south to the Arctic Circle
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Table 7 The three most abundant phytoplankton species during March, April, and May in the Barents Sea (maximum cell numbers, including flagellates) sampled between 1984 and 2007
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Degerlund, M., Eilertsen, H.C. Main Species Characteristics of Phytoplankton Spring Blooms in NE Atlantic and Arctic Waters (68–80° N). Estuaries and Coasts 33, 242–269 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-009-9167-7

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