Trophic interactions with heterotrophic bacteria limit the range of <i>Prochlorococcus</i>.

ABSTRACT: Prochlorococcus is both the smallest and numerically most abundant photosynthesizing organism on the planet. While thriving in the warm oligotrophic gyres, Prochlorococcus concentrations drop rapidly in higher-latitude regions. Transect data from the North Pacific show the collapse occurring at a wide range of temperatures and latitudes (temperature is often hypothesized to cause this shift), suggesting an ecological mechanism may be at play. An often used size-based theory of phytoplankton community structure that has been incorporated into computational models correctly predicts the dominance of Prochlorococcus in the gyres, and the relative dominance of larger cells at high latitudes. However, both theory and computational models fail to explain the poleward collaps

SUBMITTER: Follett CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8764666 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature