Spring Accumulation Rates in North Atlantic Phytoplankton Communities Linked to Alterations in the Balance Between Division and Loss.

ABSTRACT: For nearly a century, phytoplankton spring blooms have largely been explained in the context of abiotic factors regulating cellular division rates (e.g., mixed-layer light levels). However, the accumulation of new phytoplankton biomass represents a mismatch between phytoplankton division and mortality rates. The balance between division and loss, therefore, has important implications for marine food webs and biogeochemical cycles. A large fraction of phytoplankton mortality is due to the combination of microzooplankton grazing and viral lysis, however, broad scale simultaneous measurements of these mortality processes are scarce. We applied the modified dilution assay along a West-to-East diagonal transect in the North Atlantic during spring. Our results demonstrate positive accumulation r

SUBMITTER: Mojica KDA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8422905 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature