Nutrient uplift in a cyclonic eddy increases diversity, primary productivity and iron demand of microbial communities relative to a western boundary current.

ABSTRACT: The intensification of western boundary currents in the global ocean will potentially influence meso-scale eddy generation, and redistribute microbes and their associated ecological and biogeochemical functions. To understand eddy-induced changes in microbial community composition as well as how they control growth, we targeted the East Australian Current (EAC) region to sample microbes in a cyclonic (cold-core) eddy (CCE) and the adjacent EAC. Phototrophic and diazotrophic microbes were more diverse (2-10 times greater Shannon index) in the CCE relative to the EAC, and the cell size distribution in the CCE was dominated (67%) by larger micro-plankton [Formula: see text], as opposed to pico- and nano-sized cells in the EAC. Nutrient addition experiments determined that nitrogen was the pri

SUBMITTER: Doblin MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4860325 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature