Mesozooplankton Graze on Cyanobacteria in the Amazon River Plume and Western Tropical North Atlantic.

ABSTRACT: Diazotrophic cyanobacteria, those capable of fixing di-nitrogen (N₂), are considered one of the major sources of new nitrogen (N) in the oligotrophic tropical ocean, but direct incorporation of diazotrophic N into food webs has not been fully examined. In the Amazon River-influenced western tropical North Atlantic (WTNA), diatom diazotroph associations (DDAs) and the filamentous colonial diazotrophs Trichodesmium have seasonally high abundances. We sampled epipelagic mesozooplankton in the Amazon River plume and WTNA in May-June 2010 to investigate direct grazing by mesozooplankton on two DDA populations: Richelia associated with Rhizosolenia diatoms (het-1) and Hemiaulus diatoms (het-2), and on Trichodesmium using highly specific qPCR assays t

SUBMITTER: Conroy BJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5540951 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature