Unveiling a phytoplankton hotspot at a narrow boundary between coastal and offshore waters.

ABSTRACT: In terrestrial ecosystems, transitional areas between different plant communities (ecotones) are formed by steep environmental gradients and are commonly characterized by high species diversity and primary productivity, which in turn influences the foodweb structure of these regions. Whether comparable zones of elevated diversity and productivity characterize ecotones in the oceans remains poorly understood. Here we describe a previously hidden hotspot of phytoplankton diversity and productivity in a narrow but seasonally persistent transition zone at the intersection of iron-poor, nitrate-rich offshore waters and iron-rich, nitrate-poor coastal waters of the Northeast Pacific Ocean. Novel continuous measurements of phytoplankton cell abundance and composition identified a complex successi

SUBMITTER: Ribalet F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2944761 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature