Relation between phytoplankton size-spectrum model parameters and total biomass in the oligotrophic atlantic ocean. results from the Malaspina expedition
2015
Moreno-Ostos, Enrique | Blanco, José María | Agustí, Susana | Lubián, Luis M. | Rodríguez, Valeriano | Llabrés, Moira | Palomino, Roberto L. | Rodríguez, Jaime
Aquatic Sciences Meeting (Aquatic Sciences: Global And Regional Perspectives - North Meets South), 22-27 February 2015, Granada, Spain.
Show more [+] Less [-]Phytoplankton size is a property of marine ecosystems: physiological features, ecological function ¿metabolic rates, light and nutrients dependence, sinking,trophic organization, etc) are directly related to the size structure of phytoplankton assemblages. The size-abundance spectrum is a useful tool for the analysis of theese features. This model is usually expresed as alinear plot with abundances distributed ian a octave scale of cell sizes: the intercept seems to be related to total phytoplankton biomass, whereas the slope is an indicator of the biomass-share among size classes and might be related to the energy transfer efficiency along the spectrum and the phytoplankton productivity, eventually with flatter slopes in productive, high biomass phytoplankton regions and the opossite in oligotrophic ecosystems. Howevwer, our present results in the oligotrphic Atlantoc Ocean do no support this paradigm, showing no dependence of slope on the whole biomass. High biomass, steep slopes are found and their implication on the energy flow throughout the size spectrum are discussed.
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