the relationship between phytoplankton distribution and water column characteristics in north west european shelf sea waters浮游植物的分布和水之间的关系列欧洲西北大陆架海域特征.pdfVIP

The Relationship between Phytoplankton Distribution and Water Column Characteristics in North West European Shelf Sea Waters {1,2 1 3 1 Johanna Fehling , Keith Davidson *, Christopher J. S. Bolch , Tim D. Brand , Bhavani E. Narayanaswamy1 1 Scottish Association for Marine Science, Scottish Marine Institute, Oban, Argyll, Scotland, United Kingdom, 2 Systematic Biology, Department of Evolution Genomics and Systematics, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, 3 National Centre for Marine Conservation and Resource Sustainability, Australian Maritime College, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia Abstract Phytoplankton underpin the marine food web in shelf seas, with some species having properties that are harmful to human health and coastal aquaculture. Pressures such as climate change and anthropogenic nutrient input are hypothesized to influence phytoplankton community composition and distribution. Yet the primary environmental drivers in shelf seas are poorly understood. To begin to address this in North Western European waters, the phytoplankton community composition was assessed in light of measured physical and chemical drivers during the ‘‘Ellett Line’’ cruise of autumn 2001 across the Scottish Continental shelf and into adjacent open Atlantic waters. Spatial variability existed in both phytoplankton and environmental conditions, with clear differences not only between on and off shelf stations but also between different on shelf locations. Temperature/salinity plots demonstrated different water masses existed in the region. In turn, principal component analysis (PCA), of the measured environmental conditions (temperature, salinity, water density and inorganic nutrient con