Phytoplankton growth, microzooplankton herbivory and community structure in the southeast Bering Sea: insight into the formation and temporal persistence of an Emiliania huxleyi bloom

Abstract

Abstract Using the seawater dilution technique, we measured phytoplankton growth and microzooplankton grazing rates within and outside of the 1999 Bering Sea coccolithophorid bloom. We found that reduced microzooplankton grazing mortality is a key component in the formation and temporal persistence of the Emiliania huxleyi bloom that continues to proliferate in the southeast Bering Sea. Total chlorophyll a (Chl a) at the study sites ranged from 0.40 to 4.45 μg C l−1. Highest phytoplankton biomass was found within the bloom, which was a mixed assemblage of diatoms and E. huxleyi. Here, 75% of the Chl a came from cells >10 μm and was attributed primarily to the high abundance of the diatom Nitzschia spp. Nutrient-enhanced total phytoplankton growth rates averaged 0.53 d−1 across all experimental stations. Average growth rates for >10 μm and 10 μm ranged from 0.19 to 1.14 d−1. Grazing on cells 10 and 10 μm were higher than previously reported for the region, ranging from 22,000 to 227,430 cells l−1 and 18 to 164 μg C l−1. Highest abundance and biomass occurred in the bloom and corresponded with increased abundance of the large ciliate Laboea, and the heterotrophic dinoflagellates Protoperidinium and Gyrodinium spp. Despite low grazing rates on phytoplankton