Differential distribution of diatoms and dinoflagellates in a cyclonic eddy confined in the Bay of La Paz, Gulf of California

Abstract

AbstractThe differential distribution of diatoms and dinoflagellates in the Bay of La Paz, Gulf of California, Mexico, was analyzed in summer of 2009, when a cyclonic eddy confined in the bay dominated the circulation. An uplift of the nutricline in the eddy drove high concentrations of nutrients to the euphotic layer. A differential phytoplankton distribution was observed to be associated with the eddy: there was an abundance of dinoflagellates close to the center of the cyclonic eddy, whereas diatoms were more abundant at the periphery. A significant inverse correlation (R = −0.62, p < 0.002) was found between the temperature at 25 m depth and the dinoflagellates abundance. Based on the temporal evolution of chlorophyll measured by MODIS satellite images, and a conceptual model proposed for the lifecycle of eddies, the cyclonic eddy may have been an old decaying structure. The effect of the cyclonic eddy on the phytoplankton distribution in this small semienclosed region was apparently similar to that found in larger eddies in the open ocean, but this is the first time such a differential distribution has been found associated to a confined eddy.