Premium
Multivariate statistics applied to phytoplankton data from two Gulf Stream warm core rings 1
Author(s) -
Gould, Jr. R. W.,
Balmori E. R.,
Fryxell G. A.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1986.31.5.0951
Subject(s) - phytoplankton , abundance (ecology) , canonical correspondence analysis , principal component analysis , diatom , multivariate statistics , salinity , relative species abundance , environmental science , oceanography , canonical analysis , ecology , biology , statistics , geology , nutrient , mathematics
Multivariate statistical techniques were used on data from two cruises to Gulf Stream warm core rings to reveal patterns and relationships between phytoplankton species abundance and environmental parameters. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on each cruise separately and on the combined data to help delineate groups of stations, depths, and species. A ring center station with high numbers of diatoms and a Slope Water station formed separate groups. Deep samples from all the stations grouped together. We consistently observed strong similarities in phytoplankton abundance and species composition between fall samples from the two rings. Inverse analysis was performed using presence or absence data, and the values of the first three principal components were then used in a cluster analysis to determine species co‐occurrences. This analysis resulted in separate groupings of a large number of diatom species found at the center of the rings, of deep species, and of the most abundant and the most frequently observed taxa. Simple correlations, multiple regressions, and canonical correlations were performed with the phytoplankton log abundance data and the environmental data. The canonical coefficients and correlations suggest that high numbers of dinoflagellates and other algae are associated with lower salinity in the Slope Water and at the ring edge, and that higher temperatures and low values of silica (dissolved) are reflected in higher numbers of diatoms and coccolithophorids at ring center.