Publikation
Niche partitioning by photosynthetic plankton as a driver of CO2-fixation across the oligotrophic South Pacific Subtropical Ocean
Julia Duerschlag; Wiebke Mohr; Timothy G. Ferdelman; Julie LaRoche; Dhwani Desai; Peter L. Croot; Daniela Voß; Oliver Zielinski; Gaute Lavik; Sten Littmann; Clara Martinez-Pèrez; Bernhard Tschitschko; Nina Bartlau; Helena Osterholz; Thorsten Dittmar; Marcel M. M. Kuypers
In: The ISME Journal (ISME), Pages 1-12, Springer Nature, Heidelberg, 8/2021.
Zusammenfassung
Oligotrophic ocean gyre ecosystems may be expanding due to rising global temperatures [1,2,3,4,5]. Models predicting carbon flow through these changing ecosystems require accurate descriptions of phytoplankton communities and their metabolic activities [6]. We therefore measured distributions and activities of cyanobacteria and small photosynthetic eukaryotes throughout the euphotic zone on a zonal transect through the South Pacific Ocean, focusing on the ultraoligotrophic waters of the South Pacific Gyre (SPG). Bulk rates of CO2 fixation were low (0.1 µmol C l−1 d−1) but pervasive throughout both the surface mixed-layer (upper 150 m), as well as the deep chlorophyll a maximum of the core SPG. Chloroplast 16S rRNA metabarcoding, and single-cell 13CO2 uptake experiments demonstrated niche differentiation among the small eukaryotes and picocyanobacteria. Prochlorococcus abundances, activity, and growth were more closely associated with the rims of the gyre. Small, fast-growing, photosynthetic eukaryotes, likely related to the Pelagophyceae, characterized the deep chlorophyll a maximum. In contrast, a slower growing population of photosynthetic eukaryotes, likely comprised of Dictyochophyceae and Chrysophyceae, dominated the mixed layer that contributed 65–88% of the areal CO2 fixation within the core SPG. Small photosynthetic eukaryotes may thus play an underappreciated role in CO2 fixation in the surface mixed-layer waters of ultraoligotrophic ecosystems.