Adaptations of phytoplankton in the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean during austral summer of 1998---2014

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of light and temperature on the surface water diatoms and chlorophytes, phytoplankton in the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean (SO) during the austral summer of 1998‒2014. Significant longitudinal variations in hydrographic and biological parameters were observed at the Sub tropical front (STF), Sub Antarctic front (SAF) and Polar front (PF) along 56°E‒58°E. The concentrations of total surface chlorophyll a (Chl a), diatoms, and chlorophytes measured by the National Aeronautics Space Agency (NASA) estimated by the Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensors (SeaWiFS), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro Radiometer (MODIS), and the NASA Ocean Biological Model (NOBM) were used in the study. Variations in the concentration of total Chl a was remarkable amongst the fronts during the study period. The contribution of diatoms to the total concentration of surface Chl a increased towards south from the STF to the PF while it decreased in the case of chlorophytes. The maximum photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) was observed at the STF and it progressively decreased to the PF through the SAF. At the PF region the contribution of diatoms to the total Chl a biomass was≥80%. On the other hand, the chlorophytes showed a contrary distribution pattern with≥70% of the total Chl a biomass recorded at the STF which gradually decreased towards the PF, mainly attributed to the temperate adaptation. This clearly reveals that the trend of diatoms increased at the STF and decreased at the SAF and the PF. Further, the trend of chlorophytes was increased at the STF, SAF and PF with a shift in the community in the frontal system of the Indian Ocean sector of the SO.

Keywords

chlorophyll a / diatoms / chlorophytes / SST / PAR / Southern Ocean

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Acknowledgement

We greatly appreciate Director Dr. S. Rajan, National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), MoES for his incessant encouragement and support during the preparation of this manuscript. We thank the different agencies for the data used in the manuscript such as Chl a, PAR data produced by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre, the AVHRR data produced by the NASA Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Centre (PODAAC), and the NASA model data for diatoms and chlorophytes produced by the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) at Goddard Space Flight Center. We are also thankful to Dr. C. T. Achuthankutty for his critical comments that improved the language and quality of the manuscript. This is NCAOR contribution No.26/2015.

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