Abstract
Using a flow cytometer (FCM) onboard the R/V Xuelong during the 24th Chinese Antarctic cruise, picoplankton community structure and biomass in the surface water were examined along the latitude and around the Antarctic Ocean. Salinity and temperature were automatically recorded and total Chl a was determined. Along the cruise, the abundance of Synechococcus, Prochlorococcus, pico-eukaryotes and heterotrophic bacteria ranged in 0.001–1.855×108 ind./L, 0.000–2.778×108 ind./L, 0.002–1.060×108 ind./L and 0.132–27.073×108 ind./L, respectively. Major oceanic distribution of Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus appeared between latitudes 30°N and 30°S. Prochlorococcus was mainly influenced by water temperature, water mass combination and freshwater inflow. Meanwhile, Synechococcus distribution was significantly associated with landing freshwater inflow. Pico-eukaryotes and heterotrophic bacteria were distributed all over the oceans, but with a relatively low abundance in the high latitudes of the Antarctic Ocean. Principal Component Analysis showed that at same latitude of Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean, picoplankton distribution and constitution were totally different, geographical location and different water masses combination would be main reasons.
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Foundation item: The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract Nos 40576002 and 40006010; the Key International S & T Cooperation Projects under contract No. 2008DFA20420; the Youth Scientific and Technological Innovation Foundation of Polar Research Institute of China under contract No. JDQ200802; the Polar Strategic Research Foundation under contract No. 2008209; the LMEB Open Research Foundation under contract No. LMEB200902; and the PhD Program Scholarship Fund of ECNU under contract No. 2010041.
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Lin, L., He, J., Zhao, Y. et al. Flow cytometry investigation of picoplankton across latitudes and along the circum Antarctic Ocean. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 31, 134–142 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-012-0185-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-012-0185-0