Phytoplankton community structure and nitrogen nutrition in Leeuwin Current and coastal waters off the Gascoyne region of Western Australia

Abstract

Abstract Within the coastal waters of the eastern Indian Ocean adjacent to Western Australia, we tested the hypothesis that regenerated production (and, by inference, the microbial food web) would predominate in oligotrophic Leeuwin Current (LC) and offshore (OS) surface waters. Conversely, we expected that new production would be more important within the ∼5 times more productive shelf countercurrents (Ningaloo and Capes Currents; NCC mean±SD) compared to the DCM (2.7±2.3 nmol L−1 h−1). However, in LCO p=0.05). These values represent conservative estimates for the region due to methodological difficulties encountered with nitrogen uptake experiments in these oligotrophic waters. In contrast with the distinct community composition between different water types, mean estimates of the f-ratio were similar across sampling depths and water types: 0.17±0.07 at the surface and 0.16±0.06 at the DCM of shelf countercurrent waters, and 0.14±0.05 at the surface and 0.14±0.09 at the DCM of LC&OS waters. These results demonstrate the importance of ammonium-based production in both oligotrophic LC&OS waters and the more productive upwelling-influenced countercurrents. They also highlight the utility of chemotaxonomic methods in studying pelagic ecosystem structure along the Gascoyne region of Western Australia.