Phytoplankton diversity and size structure in the Central-Southern Tyrrhenian Sea: implications for microbial functioning.

ABSTRACT: Microbial community dynamics in relation to mesoscale hydrographical features are almost unknown particularly in the pelagic Central-Southern Tyrrhenian Sea. To get a more comprehensive view of phytoplankton community structure and microbial community functioning, datasets of phytoplankton abundance, composition and some microbial enzyme activities (leucine aminopeptidase, LAP, beta-glucosidase, GLU and alkaline phosphatase, AP) from six cruises carried out twenty years ago were analyzed. Hydrographic characteristics identified the presence of both Atlantic Waters (AW) and Tyrrhenian Intermediate Waters (TIW). Size structure of phytoplankton biomass showed an unexpected high contribution of the pico-phytoplankton to the total primary production (> 60%) determining a predominant microbial f

SUBMITTER: Caroppo C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12705777 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature