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Increasing importance of small phytoplankton in a warmer ocean
Author(s) -
MORÁN XOSÉ ANXELU G.,
LÓPEZURRUTIA ÁNGEL,
CALVODÍAZ ALEJANDRA,
LI WILLIAM K. W.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
global change biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.146
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1365-2486
pISSN - 1354-1013
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.01960.x
Subject(s) - phytoplankton , trophic level , primary producers , ecology , biomass (ecology) , plankton , range (aeronautics) , oceanography , environmental science , ecosystem , abundance (ecology) , marine ecosystem , food web , temperate climate , allometry , population , relative species abundance , biology , nutrient , materials science , demography , sociology , composite material , geology
The macroecological relationships among marine phytoplankton total cell density, community size structure and temperature have lacked a theoretical explanation. The tiniest members of this planktonic group comprise cyanobacteria and eukaryotic algae smaller than 2 μm in diameter, collectively known as picophytoplankton. We combine here two ecological rules, the temperature–size relationship with the allometric size‐scaling of population abundance to explain a remarkably consistent pattern of increasing picophytoplankton biomass with temperature over the −0.6 to 22 °C range in a merged dataset obtained in the eastern and western temperate North Atlantic Ocean across a diverse range of environmental conditions. Our results show that temperature alone was able to explain 73% of the variance in the relative contribution of small cells to total phytoplankton biomass regardless of differences in trophic status or inorganic nutrient loading. Our analysis predicts a gradual shift toward smaller primary producers in a warmer ocean. Because the fate of photosynthesized organic carbon largely depends on phytoplankton size, we anticipate future alterations in the functioning of oceanic ecosystems.