Phytoplankton community structure is influenced by seabird g
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TitlePhytoplankton community structure is influenced by seabird guano enrichment in the Southern OceanAbstractPhytoplankton biomass, productivity and community structure are strongly influenced by differences in nutrient concentrations among oceanographic water masses. Changes in community composition, particularly in the distribution of cell sizes, can result in dramatic changes in the energetics of pelagic food webs and ecosystem function in terms of biogeochemical cycling and carbon sequestration. Here we examine responses of natural phytoplankton communities from four major water masses in the Southern Ocean to enrichment from seabird guano, a concentrated source of bioactive metals (Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn) and macronutrients (N, P), in a series of incubation experiments. Phytoplankton communities from sub-tropical water, modified sub-tropical water from the Snares Island wake, sub-Antarctic water and Antarctic water from the Ross Sea, each showed dramatic changes in community structure following additions of seabird guano. We observed particularly high growth of prymnesiophytes in response to the guano-derived nutrients within sub-Antarctic and sub-tropical frontal zones, resulting in communities dominated by larger cell sizes than in control incubations. Community changes within treatments enriched with guano were distinct, and in most cases more extensive, than those observed for treatments with additions of macronutrients (N, P) or iron (Fe) alone. These results provide the first empirical evidence that seabird guano enrichment can drive significant changes in the structure and composition of natural phytoplankton communities. Our findings have important implications for understanding the consequences of accumulation of bioactive metals and macronutrients within food webs and the role of seabirds as nutrient vectors within the Southern Ocean ecosystem. Copyright 2017AcknowledgementsWe thank captain Bill Dickson and Phil Heseltine of the RV Polaris II and the staff of the Portobello Marine Laboratory for their valuable support in the field and in the laboratory. Access to the Snares Islands was provided by New Zealand's Department of Conservation, and samples were collected under permits from the Department of Conservation, University of Otago Animal Ethics Committee and the Ministry for Primary Industries. Our Antarctic work was made possible by the science support team at New Zealand's Scott Base. Special thanks to K. Nachtigall and S. Audritz for help with HPLC measurements and to M. Meyerhöfer for help with CHEMTAX analyses. Our work was supported by grants from the Royal Society of New Zealand's Marsden Fund (UOO1008) and from Antarctica New Zealand (KO67) to SRW.Funding DetailsKO67, Antarctica New Zealand
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1st AuthorShatova, O.AuthorShatova, O.Wing, S.Hoffmann, L.Wing, L.Gault-Ringold, M.Year2017JournalEstuarine, Coastal and Shelf ScienceVolume191Pages125-135DOI10.1016/j.ecss.2017.04.021URLhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/recor.....d5da8708a128c2a8d0313b8baKeywordsAntarctic Bottom Waterbioactivitycommunity responsecommunity structureecosystem functionfood webnutrient enrichmentphytoplanktonseabirdwater mass, New ZealandRoss SeaSnares IslandsSouthern Ocean, Haptophyceae, rank5Author KeywordsBioactive metalsGuanoPhytoplanktonSeabirdSouthern OceanProgrammeK067 - Fate of the sea ice microbial community (SIMCO) in the benthic foodweb
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TypeArticleCitationShatova, O., Wing, S., Hoffmann, L., Wing, L. and Gault-Ringold, M. (2017). Phytoplankton community structure is influenced by seabird guano enrichment in the Southern Ocean. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 191: 125-135
Gault-Ringold, M., Phytoplankton community structure is influenced by seabird g , [Shatova2017]. Antarctica NZ, accessed 24/03/2023, https://adam.antarcticanz.govt.nz/nodes/view/63767, 10.1016/j.ecss.2017.04.021