Large seasonal and spatial variation in nano- and microphytoplankton diversity along a Baltic Sea-North Sea salinity gradient.

ABSTRACT: Aquatic phytoplankton experience large fluctuations in environmental conditions during seasonal succession and across salinity gradients, but the impact of this variation on their diversity is poorly understood. We examined spatio-temporal variation in nano- and microphytoplankton (> 2 µm) community structure using almost two decades of light-microscope based monitoring data. The dataset encompasses 19 stations that span a salinity gradient from 2.8 to 35 along the Swedish coastline. Spatially, both regional and local phytoplankton diversity increased with broad-scale salinity variation. Diatoms dominated at high salinity and the proportion of cyanobacteria increased with decreasing salinity. Temporally, cell abundance peaked in winter-spring at high salinity but in summer at low salinity.

SUBMITTER: Olofsson M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7572517 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature