Abstract
An ecological zonation of phytoplankton was determined from its normalized spectral absorption shape (aphn) during the summers of 2001-02-03 off the west coast of Baja California. In the first two seasons, the highest abundances of the main taxonomic groups of phytoplankton were detected towards the coastal stations, but for 2003, diatoms showed higher abundances towards the oceanic region. The ecological provinces (Pv) were the footprint of the zonation in the structure of the phytoplankton community; likewise, it was observed that the spectral shape was independent of the chlorophyll-a (mg·m-3). The effect of coastal upwelling south of Vizcaino Bay favored the increase of phytoplankton cells. However, the composition of the community decreased in cells abundance and diversity due to the influence of the phenomenon called El Nino “debil” reported to the south of the California Current for the years 2002-03.
Highlights
The structure of the phytoplankton community and its primary production are a fundamental part of the marine pelagic ecosystem since it contributes a quarter of the total carbon fixation rate with 35 - 50 Gt C Y−1 with an important role in the global carbon cycle CO2 via the biological carbon pump [1] [2]
The physical and biological oceanographic conditions in the California Current (CC) off Baja California (BC) during 2001 period have been widely characterized by [8] [9] [10], where these authors emphasize the presence of upwelling that favoring the increased of phytoplankton
A total of 117 absorption spectral curves were generated, which were grouped into four average spectral shapes (Figure 2) that represent the ecological zonation of phytoplankton denominated provinces (Pv I, Pv II, Pv III, Pv IV)
Summary
The structure of the phytoplankton community and its primary production are a fundamental part of the marine pelagic ecosystem since it contributes a quarter of the total carbon fixation rate with 35 - 50 Gt C Y−1 with an important role in the global carbon cycle CO2 via the biological carbon pump [1] [2]. For this reason, the scientific community has increased studies and implemented methodologies on phytoplankton ecology and its short and medium term variability, in order to determine a better understanding of primary productivity and changes in the biological ecosystem in relation to anomalous events such as “El Niño-La Niña” [5]. The ecological zonation of phytoplankton provinces was characterized based on differences on the spectral absorption shape (aphn/440nm), mainly if we observed anomalous oceanographic interannual changes off Baja California during the summers 2001-02-03
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