Summer phytoplankton distributions in the Weddell Sea

The quantitative composition of phytoplankton was studied along a transect of 14 hydrographic stations, between the southern coast of the Weddell Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula, during the austral summer of 1984-1985. The most apparent feature of the phytoplankton distribution was the presence of a bloom of Phaeocystis at a frontal zone over the shelf break, and the marked contrast between a southern region, with high phytoplankton biomass, and a poorer region north of the shelf break. The most widely distributed diatom genus was Nitzschia (Fragilariopsis section). The phytoplankton assemblage of the southern region included the silicoflagellate Distephanus speculum, the diatom Rhizosolenia alata and several heterotrophic dinoflagellates such as Protoperidinium antarcticum and P. applanatum. The northern assemblage could be characterized by the abundance of flagellates and small dinoflagellates, and by diatoms such as Chaetoceros criophilum, Corethron criophilum Nitzschia kerguelensis and other Nitzschia species of the Fragilariopsis section

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Estrada, Marta, Delgado, Maximino
Other Authors:	Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (España)
Format:	artículo biblioteca
Published:	Springer 1990-06
Subjects:	Phytoplankton, Dinoflagellate, Antarctic Peninsula, Frontal Zone, Austral Summer,
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10261/256224 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003339
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