Phytoplankton community composition and photosynthetic physiology in the Australian sector of the Southern Ocean during the austral summer of 2010/2011

Abstract

Phytoplankton population dynamics play an important role in biogeochemical cycles in the Southern Ocean during austral summer. However, the relationship between phytoplankton community composition and primary productivity remains elusive in this region. We investigated the community composition and photosynthetic physiology of surface phytoplankton assemblages in the Australian sector of the Southern Ocean from December 2010 to January 2011. There were significant latitudinal variations in hydrographic and biological parameters along 110°E and 140°E. Surface (5 m) chlorophyll a (chl a) concentrations measured with high-performance liquid chromatography varied between 0.18 and 0.99 mg m−3. The diatom contribution to the surface chl a biomass increased in the south, as estimated with algal chemotaxonomic pigment markers, while the contributions of haptophytes and chlorophytes decreased. In our photosynthesis–irradiance (P–E) curve experiment, the maximum photosynthetic rate normalized to chl a ( $$P_{ \hbox{max} }^{*}$$ ), initial slope (α *), the maximum quantum yield of carbon fixation (Φ c max), and the photoinhibition index (β *) were higher in the region where diatoms contributed >50 % to the chl a biomass. In addition, there were statistically significant correlations between the diatom contribution to the chl a biomass and the P–E parameters. These results suggested that the changes in the phytoplankton community composition, primarily in diatoms, could strongly affect photosynthetic physiology in the Australian sector of the Southern Ocean.