Patchiness of plankton ecosystem structure due to nutrient mixing along the shelf edge in the North Sea
Abstract Mid-water column turbulence has been shown to cause elevated vertical nutrient flux at the shelf edge in the northeastern North Sea. Here, we demonstrate that phytoplankton communities in this region tend to be dominated by larger cells (estimated from percentage of chlorophyll captured on...
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| Format: | Article |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-83811-8 |
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| author | Axelle Cordier Jørgen Bendtsen Niels Daugbjerg Nikolaj From Sigrún Huld Jónasdóttir Erik Askov Mousing Jens Tang Christensen Teresa Silva Katherine Richardson |
| author_facet | Axelle Cordier Jørgen Bendtsen Niels Daugbjerg Nikolaj From Sigrún Huld Jónasdóttir Erik Askov Mousing Jens Tang Christensen Teresa Silva Katherine Richardson |
| author_sort | Axelle Cordier |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Mid-water column turbulence has been shown to cause elevated vertical nutrient flux at the shelf edge in the northeastern North Sea. Here, we demonstrate that phytoplankton communities in this region tend to be dominated by larger cells (estimated from percentage of chlorophyll captured on a 10 μm filter) than beyond the shelf edge. Fv/Fm (PSII electron transport capacity) corrected for photoinhibition in the surface layer correlated in this study with the percentage of chlorophyll captured on a 10 µm filter (assumed to be large cells), suggesting that the phytoplankton community was responding to increased nutrients in the euphotic zone by increasing photosynthetic efficiency and altering community composition. The greatest abundances of larger copepods and the highest rates of Centropages typicus egg production were also generally found at the shelf edge. These results suggested that impact from increased nutrient fluxes cascaded up the planktonic food web. As these regions of nutrient flux were very localised, this led to sub-mesoscale heterogeneity in plankton ecosystem structure. Reports of higher abundances of fish and mammals at the shelf edge are common and we hypothesise that their distributions are a response to the impact of mid-water column nutrient upwelling on the plankton food web in the region. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-690d7f21713c4207b90c0cabdb73b8b3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
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| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-690d7f21713c4207b90c0cabdb73b8b32025-01-12T12:20:56ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-01-0115111010.1038/s41598-024-83811-8Patchiness of plankton ecosystem structure due to nutrient mixing along the shelf edge in the North SeaAxelle Cordier0Jørgen Bendtsen1Niels Daugbjerg2Nikolaj From3Sigrún Huld Jónasdóttir4Erik Askov Mousing5Jens Tang Christensen6Teresa Silva7Katherine Richardson8Globe Institute, Section for Biodiversity, University of CopenhagenGlobe Institute, Section for Geobiology, University of CopenhagenMarine Biological Section, Department of Biology, University of CopenhagenGlobe Institute, Section for Biodiversity, University of CopenhagenNational Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of DenmarkDepartment of Climate Modeling and Air Pollution, Norwegian Meteorological InstituteDepartment of Biology, Aarhus UniversityMarine Pelagic Division, Marine and Freshwater Research InstituteGlobe Institute, Section for Biodiversity, University of CopenhagenAbstract Mid-water column turbulence has been shown to cause elevated vertical nutrient flux at the shelf edge in the northeastern North Sea. Here, we demonstrate that phytoplankton communities in this region tend to be dominated by larger cells (estimated from percentage of chlorophyll captured on a 10 μm filter) than beyond the shelf edge. Fv/Fm (PSII electron transport capacity) corrected for photoinhibition in the surface layer correlated in this study with the percentage of chlorophyll captured on a 10 µm filter (assumed to be large cells), suggesting that the phytoplankton community was responding to increased nutrients in the euphotic zone by increasing photosynthetic efficiency and altering community composition. The greatest abundances of larger copepods and the highest rates of Centropages typicus egg production were also generally found at the shelf edge. These results suggested that impact from increased nutrient fluxes cascaded up the planktonic food web. As these regions of nutrient flux were very localised, this led to sub-mesoscale heterogeneity in plankton ecosystem structure. Reports of higher abundances of fish and mammals at the shelf edge are common and we hypothesise that their distributions are a response to the impact of mid-water column nutrient upwelling on the plankton food web in the region.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-83811-8 |
| spellingShingle | Axelle Cordier Jørgen Bendtsen Niels Daugbjerg Nikolaj From Sigrún Huld Jónasdóttir Erik Askov Mousing Jens Tang Christensen Teresa Silva Katherine Richardson Patchiness of plankton ecosystem structure due to nutrient mixing along the shelf edge in the North Sea Scientific Reports |
| title | Patchiness of plankton ecosystem structure due to nutrient mixing along the shelf edge in the North Sea |
| title_full | Patchiness of plankton ecosystem structure due to nutrient mixing along the shelf edge in the North Sea |
| title_fullStr | Patchiness of plankton ecosystem structure due to nutrient mixing along the shelf edge in the North Sea |
| title_full_unstemmed | Patchiness of plankton ecosystem structure due to nutrient mixing along the shelf edge in the North Sea |
| title_short | Patchiness of plankton ecosystem structure due to nutrient mixing along the shelf edge in the North Sea |
| title_sort | patchiness of plankton ecosystem structure due to nutrient mixing along the shelf edge in the north sea |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-83811-8 |
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