INVESTIGADORES
VILLAFAÑE virginia Estela
artículos
Título:
Abiotic control of phytoplankton blooms in temperate coastal marine ecosystems: A case study in the South Atlantic Ocean
Autor/es:
BERMEJO, PAULA; HELBLING, E. WALTER; DURÁN-ROMERO, CRISTINA; CABRERIZO, MARCO J.; VILLAFAÑE, VIRGINIA E.
Revista:
THE SCIENCE OF TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
Editorial:
Elsevier B.V.
Referencias:
Año: 2018 vol. 612 p. 894 - 902
ISSN:
0048-9697
Resumen:
Coastal waters of the South Atlantic Ocean (SAO) sustain one of the highest levels of production of the World´s ocean, maintained by dense phytoplankton winter blooms that are dominated by large diatoms. These blooms have been associated to calm weather conditions that allow the formation of a shallow and well illuminated upper mixed layer. In Bahía Engaño, a coastal site in Patagonia, Argentina (chosen as a model coastal ecosystem) winter blooms recurrently peaked on June and they were dominated almost entirely by the microplanktonic diatom Odontella aurita. However, during the year 2015, a new wind pattern was observed - with many days of northerly high-speed winds, deviating from the calm winter days observed during a reference period (2001–2014) used for comparison. We determined that this new wind pattern was the most important factor that affected the phytoplankton dynamics, precluding the initiation of a June bloom during 2015 that instead occurred during late winter (August). Furthermore, the 2015 bloom had a higher proportion of nanoplanktonic cells (as compared to the reference period) and it was co-dominated by O. aurita and Thalassiossira spp. Other variables such as nutrient supply and incident solar radiation did not have an important role in limiting and/or initiating the June 2015 bloom, but temperature might have benefited the growth of small cells during August 2015. If these changes in the timing and/or the taxonomic composition of the bloom persist, they may have important consequences for the secondary production and economic services of the coastal SAO.