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Ultraviolet radiation enhances Arctic net plankton community production
Author(s) -
GarciaCorral Lara S.,
Agustí Susana,
RegaudiedeGioux Aurore,
Iuculano Francesca,
CarrillodeAlbornoz Paloma,
Wassmann Paul,
Duarte Carlos M.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2014gl060553
Subject(s) - arctic , autotroph , plankton , environmental science , ultraviolet radiation , atmospheric sciences , ultraviolet , environmental chemistry , the arctic , ecology , oceanography , chemistry , biology , physics , bacteria , radiochemistry , optoelectronics , genetics , geology
In this study we report the response of net community production (NCP) of plankton communities in the Arctic surface waters exposure to natural ultraviolet radiation (UVR) conditions. A possible bias in previous measurements performed using borosilicate glass bottles (opaque to most UVR) can underestimate NCP. Here we show that 77% of the sampled communities suffer, on average, 38.5% of net increase in NCP when exposed to natural UV‐B condition, relative to values when UV‐B radiation is excluded. UV‐B tends to shift communities toward autotrophy, with the most autotrophic communities responding the strongest. This is likely explained by the inhibition of bacterial respiration during the continuous day period of the Arctic summer, corroborated by experiments where bacterial production influenced by UV‐B directly affect NCP. Whereas Arctic warming is expected to lead to lower NCP, our results show that increased UV‐B radiation may partially compensate this negative effect in surface waters.