Marine Plankton during the Polar Night: Environmental Predictors of Spatial Variability.

ABSTRACT: We studied the spatial patterns of the planktonic ecosystems at two Arctic sites strongly affected by Atlantic Inflow (FS, the Fram Strait; and BS, the Barents Sea). A high degree of similarity in the bacterial abundance (mean: 3.1 × 10⁵ cells mL^-1 in FS vs. 3.5 × 10⁵ cells mL^-1 in BS) was found, while other plankton characteristics were different. Bacterial biomass reached a maximum in BS (3.2-7.9 mg C m^-3), while viral abundances tended to be higher in FS (2.0-5.7 × 10⁶ particles mL^-1). Larger bacterial cells were found in BS, suggesting the presence of different bacterial populations at both locations. The virus-to-bacteria ratio was significantly higher in FS than in BS (13.5 vs. 4.7). Chlorophyll a con

SUBMITTER: Dvoretsky VG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10044718 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature