Temporal patterns of picoplankton abundance and metabolism on the western coast of the equatorial Atlantic Ocean

Picoplankton are central global carbon (C) cycling players and often dominate the ocean plankton communities, especially in low latitudes. Therefore, evaluating picoplankton temporal dynamics is critical to understanding microbial stocks and C fluxes in tropical oceans. However, the lack of studies...

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Main Authors: Maiara Menezes, Pedro C. Junger, Vinicius S. Kavagutti, Bruno Wanderley, Anderson de Souza Cabral, Rodolfo Paranhos, Fernando Unrein, André M. Amado, Hugo Sarmento
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Instituto Oceanográfico da Universidade de São Paulo 2024-04-01
Series:Ocean and Coastal Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.usp.br/ocr/article/view/222890
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author Maiara Menezes
Pedro C. Junger
Vinicius S. Kavagutti
Bruno Wanderley
Anderson de Souza Cabral
Rodolfo Paranhos
Fernando Unrein
André M. Amado
Hugo Sarmento
author_facet Maiara Menezes
Pedro C. Junger
Vinicius S. Kavagutti
Bruno Wanderley
Anderson de Souza Cabral
Rodolfo Paranhos
Fernando Unrein
André M. Amado
Hugo Sarmento
author_sort Maiara Menezes
collection DOAJ
description Picoplankton are central global carbon (C) cycling players and often dominate the ocean plankton communities, especially in low latitudes. Therefore, evaluating picoplankton temporal dynamics is critical to understanding microbial stocks and C fluxes in tropical oceans. However, the lack of studies on low-latitude picoplankton communities translates into a common conception that there is an absence of seasonality. Herein, we studied the temporal variation in abundance (measured by flow cytometry), and carbon flux (taking bacterial production and respiration as proxies) of the picoplanktonic community for the first time, as well as their environmental drivers in a low-latitude (05° 59’ 20.7″S 035° 05’ 14.6″W) Atlantic coastal station. We performed monthly samplings between February 2013 and August 2016 in a novel microbial observatory – hereafter called the Equatorial Atlantic Microbial Observatory – established on the northeastern Brazilian Atlantic coast. Our results revealed stability in temporal dynamics of picoplankton, despite a considerable inter-annual variation, with some related to the El Niño (ENSO) event in 2015. However, weak environmental relationships found were not enough to explain the variation in picoplankton’s abundance, which suggests that other factors such as biological interactions may lead to picoplankton abundance variation over time. Heterotrophic bacteria dominated picoplankton during the entire study period and between photosynthetic counterparts, and Synechococcus showed greater relative importance than picoeukaryotes. These results bring a novel perspective that picoplankton may exhibit more pronounced fluctuations in the tropical region when considering inter-annual intervals, and is increasing prokaryotic contribution to carbon cycling towards the equator.
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spelling doaj-art-8db3486b69174c46b6eed67ad330bc212025-08-20T03:13:47ZengInstituto Oceanográfico da Universidade de São PauloOcean and Coastal Research2675-28242024-04-0171Suppl. 210.1590/2675-2824071.22048mmTemporal patterns of picoplankton abundance and metabolism on the western coast of the equatorial Atlantic OceanMaiara MenezesPedro C. JungerVinicius S. KavaguttiBruno WanderleyAnderson de Souza CabralRodolfo ParanhosFernando UnreinAndré M. AmadoHugo Sarmento Picoplankton are central global carbon (C) cycling players and often dominate the ocean plankton communities, especially in low latitudes. Therefore, evaluating picoplankton temporal dynamics is critical to understanding microbial stocks and C fluxes in tropical oceans. However, the lack of studies on low-latitude picoplankton communities translates into a common conception that there is an absence of seasonality. Herein, we studied the temporal variation in abundance (measured by flow cytometry), and carbon flux (taking bacterial production and respiration as proxies) of the picoplanktonic community for the first time, as well as their environmental drivers in a low-latitude (05° 59’ 20.7″S 035° 05’ 14.6″W) Atlantic coastal station. We performed monthly samplings between February 2013 and August 2016 in a novel microbial observatory – hereafter called the Equatorial Atlantic Microbial Observatory – established on the northeastern Brazilian Atlantic coast. Our results revealed stability in temporal dynamics of picoplankton, despite a considerable inter-annual variation, with some related to the El Niño (ENSO) event in 2015. However, weak environmental relationships found were not enough to explain the variation in picoplankton’s abundance, which suggests that other factors such as biological interactions may lead to picoplankton abundance variation over time. Heterotrophic bacteria dominated picoplankton during the entire study period and between photosynthetic counterparts, and Synechococcus showed greater relative importance than picoeukaryotes. These results bring a novel perspective that picoplankton may exhibit more pronounced fluctuations in the tropical region when considering inter-annual intervals, and is increasing prokaryotic contribution to carbon cycling towards the equator. https://journals.usp.br/ocr/article/view/222890Flow cytometryBacterioplanktonPicoeukaryotesCarbon cycling
spellingShingle Maiara Menezes
Pedro C. Junger
Vinicius S. Kavagutti
Bruno Wanderley
Anderson de Souza Cabral
Rodolfo Paranhos
Fernando Unrein
André M. Amado
Hugo Sarmento
Temporal patterns of picoplankton abundance and metabolism on the western coast of the equatorial Atlantic Ocean
Ocean and Coastal Research
Flow cytometry
Bacterioplankton
Picoeukaryotes
Carbon cycling
title Temporal patterns of picoplankton abundance and metabolism on the western coast of the equatorial Atlantic Ocean
title_full Temporal patterns of picoplankton abundance and metabolism on the western coast of the equatorial Atlantic Ocean
title_fullStr Temporal patterns of picoplankton abundance and metabolism on the western coast of the equatorial Atlantic Ocean
title_full_unstemmed Temporal patterns of picoplankton abundance and metabolism on the western coast of the equatorial Atlantic Ocean
title_short Temporal patterns of picoplankton abundance and metabolism on the western coast of the equatorial Atlantic Ocean
title_sort temporal patterns of picoplankton abundance and metabolism on the western coast of the equatorial atlantic ocean
topic Flow cytometry
Bacterioplankton
Picoeukaryotes
Carbon cycling
url https://journals.usp.br/ocr/article/view/222890
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