Articles | Volume 19, issue 24
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5911-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5911-2022
Research article
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21 Dec 2022
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 21 Dec 2022

Upwelled plankton community modulates surface bloom succession and nutrient availability in a natural plankton assemblage

Allanah Joy Paul, Lennart Thomas Bach, Javier Arístegui, Elisabeth von der Esch, Nauzet Hernández-Hernández, Jonna Piiparinen, Laura Ramajo, Kristian Spilling, and Ulf Riebesell

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KOSMOS 2017 Peru Side Experiment: nutrients, phytoplankton abundances, enzyme rates, photophysiology A. J. Paul, J. Arístegui, L. T. Bach, N. Hernández-Hernández, J. Piiparinen, U. Riebesell, and K. Spilling https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.941138

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By using an experimental approach to study how upwelling deep water modulates chemistry and biology response of surface plankton communities the authors address a highly relevant scientific topic as expected climate change will significantly alter ocean currents and upwelling patterns. This is particularly important as stimulation of highly productive phytoplankton blooms by upwelling water are generally attributed to the inputs of water rich in inorganic nutrients into the sunlit surface ocean. By using an experimental approach the authors could disentangle the different drivers of phytoplankton bloom dynamics in the highly productive northern Humboldt Upwelling System. Their results indicate that upwelling modifies phytoplankton succession after upwelling by additional factors and not just the physical supply of inorganic nutrients with the deep water. Accordingly, the most influential drivers were the stoichiometry of the inorganic nutrients added and deep water microbial communities, which can cause heterogeneity in phytoplankton bloom succession and control stoichiometry of residual inorganic nutrients during phytoplankton bloom brake down. Thus, deep water community composition are a major control of phytoplankton bloom dynamics in surface waters following upwelling events which have profound implications for ocean biodiversity, productivity and biochemistry which need to be taken into account in ocean models.
Short summary
We investigated how different deep water chemistry and biology modulate the response of surface phytoplankton communities to upwelling in the Peruvian coastal zone. Our results show that the most influential drivers were the ratio of inorganic nutrients (N : P) and the microbial community present in upwelling source water. These led to unexpected and variable development in the phytoplankton assemblage that could not be predicted by the amount of inorganic nutrients alone.
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