Community structure and spatial-temporal variation of netz-phytoplankton in the Bering Sea in summer

Abstract

Marine biodiversity is changing in response to altered physical environment, subsequent ecological changes as well as anthropogenic disturbances. In this study, phytoplankton samples in situ collected in the Bering Sea in July of 1999 and 2010 were analyzed to obtain phytoplankton community structure and spatial-temporal variation between the beginning and end of this decade, and the correlation of phytoplankton community dynamics and environmental factors was investigated. A total of 5 divisions, 58 genera and 153 species of phytoplankton belonging to 3 ecological groups were identified. The vast majority of phytoplankton consisted of diatoms accounting for 66.7% of the total species and 95.2% of the total abundance. Considering differentiation in spatial extent and phytoplankton sample types, there were subtle changes in species composition, large altering in abundance and significant variation in spatial distribution between two surveys. The abundance peak area was located at the Bering Strait while sub peak was found at the Bering Sea Basin. The boreal-temperate diatom was the dominant flora, which was subsequently replaced by eurythermal and frigid-water diatom. Phytoplankton community in the Bering Sea was not a simplex uniform community but composed of deep-ocean assemblage and neritic assemblage. The deep-ocean assemblage was located in the northwestern Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea Basin, dominated by boreal-temperate species (Neodenticula seminae, Thalassiothrix longissima, Amphiprora hyperborean, Chaetoceros atlanticus, Thalassiosira trifulta, etc.) and eurychoric species (Thalassionema nitzschioides, Ch. compressus, Rhizosolenia styliformis, etc.), and characterized by low abundance, even interspecies abundance allocations, diverse dominant species and high species diversity. The neritic assemblage was distributed on the continental shelf and slope of Bering Sea and was mainly composed of frigid-water species (Th. nordenskioldii, Ch. furcellatus, Ch. socialis, Bacteriosira fragilis, etc.) and eurythermal and euryhaline species (L. danicus, Ch. curvisetus, Coscinodiscus curvatulus, etc.), and it was characterized by high abundance, uneven interspecies allocations, prominent dominant species and low species diversity. Spatial-temporal variation of species composition and abundance of phytoplankton in the Bering Sea was directly controlled by surface circulation, nutrient supply and ice edge.