Skip to main content
Log in

Microphytoplankton assemblages in shallow waters at Admiralty Bay (King George Island, Antarctica) during the summer 2002–2003

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Polar Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Microphytoplankton populations were studied in shallow coastal water (<60 m) near the Brazilian Antarctic Station Comandante Ferraz (EACF) and three reference areas in Admiralty Bay in early and late summer (2002–2003). Phytoplankton was diverse (113 taxa), but not abundant (103 cells l−1). The highest abundances (>104 cells l−1) were caused by pennate benthic diatoms (Fragilaria striatula Lyngbye) that occurred mainly in early summer, associated with the presence of ice. In late summer, when the water temperature (−0.4 to 1.5°C), salinity (34 to 35), and phosphate (2.6 to 4.5 μmol l−1) were highest and the dissolved oxygen was lowest (6.4 to 2.9 ml l−1), centric diatoms (Thalassiosira spp.) were more abundant, suggesting an influence of oceanic waters. Phytoplankton abundance (≤102 cells l−1) and chlorophyll a concentrations (0.22 μg l−1) were lowest close to EACF. Pennate diatoms were dominant close to shore and in surface waters elsewhere, probably because of ice melting or sediment resuspension caused by water mixing.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahn I-Y, Chung H, Kang J-S (1997) Diatom composition and biomass variability in nearshore waters of Maxwell Bay, Antarctica, during the 1992/1993 austral summer. Polar Biol 17:123–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ATCM XXVIII Working Paper: review of the Admiralty Bay Antarctic Specially Managed Area management plan (ASMA no 1). Brazil and Poland, p 32

  • Bidigare RR, Iriarte JL, Kang S-H, Karentz D, Ondrusek ME, Fryxell GA (1996) Phytoplankton: quantitative and qualitative assessments. In: Foundations for ecological research west of the Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctic Research Series 70:173–198

  • Bodungen B (1986) Phytoplankton growth and krill grazing during spring in the Bransfield Strait, Antarctica—implications from sediment trap collections. Polar Biol 6(3):153–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brandini FP, Rebello J (1994) Wind effect on hydrography and chlorophyll dynamics in the coastal pelagial of Admiralty Bay, King George Island, Antarctica. Antarct Sci 6(4):433–442

    Google Scholar 

  • Brandini FP, Lopes RM, Gutseit KS, Spach HL, Sassi R (1997) Planctonologia na plataforma continental brasileira—Diagnose e revisão bibliográfica. MMA/CIRIM/FEMAR

  • Burkholder PR, Sieburth JM (1961) Phytoplankton and Chlorophyll in the Gerlache and Bransfield Straits of Antarctica. Limnol Oceanogr 6(1):45–52

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Crosta X, Sturm A, Armand L, Pichon J-J (2004) Late Quaternary sea ice history in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean as recorded by diatom assemblages. Mar Micropaleontol 50:209–223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cupp EE (1943) Marine plankton diatoms of the West of North America. University of California Press, California, p 235

    Google Scholar 

  • El-Sayed SZ, Fryxell GA (1993) Phytoplankton. In: Antarctic microbiology, pp 65–122

  • Estrada M, Delgado M (1990) Summer phytoplankton distributions in the Weddell Sea. Polar Biol 10:441–449

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fryxell GA (1989) Marine phytoplankton at the Weddell Sea ice edge: seasonal changes at the specific level. Polar Biol 10:1–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garrison DL (1991) Antarctic sea ice biota. Am Zool 31(1):17–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert NS (1991) Microphytobenthic seasonality in near-shore marine sediments at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands, Antarctica. Estuarine. Coast Shelf Sci 33(1):89–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granéli E, Granéli W, Rabbani MM, Daugbjerg N, Fransz G, Cuzin-Roudy J, Alder VA (1993) The influence of copepod and krill grazing on the species composition of phytoplankton communities from the Scotia-Weddell Sea. Polar Biol 13:201–213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grasshoff K, Ehrhardt M, Kremling K (1983) Methods of seawater analysis, 2nd edn. Verlag Chemie, Weinheim, p 419

    Google Scholar 

  • Hasle GR, Syverten EE (1997) Marine diatoms, Chap 2 In: Tomas CR (ed) Identifying marine phytoplankton. Academic Press, St. Petersburg, pp 5–385

    Google Scholar 

  • INPE (2002) http://www.cptec.inpe.br/antartica/antartica.shtml

  • Kang S-H, Fryxell GA (1991) Most abundant diatom species in water column assemblages from five leg 119 drill sites in Prydz Bay, Antarctica: distributional patterns. In: Barron J et al (eds) Proceedings of the ocean drilling program, scientific results 119:645–666

  • Kang S-H, Kang J-S, Chung K-H, Lee M-Y, Lee B-Y, Chung H, Kim Y, Kim D-Y (1997) Seasonal variation of nearshore antarctic microalgae and environmental factors in Marian Cove, King George Island, 1996. Korean J Polar Res 8(1,2):9–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Kang S-H, Kang J-S, Lee S, Chung KH, Kim D, Park MG (2001) Antarctic phytoplankton assemblages in the marginal ice zone of the northwestern Weddell Sea. J Plankton Res 23(4):333–352

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kang J-S, Kang S-H, Lee JH, Lee S (2002) Seasonal variation of microalgal assemblages at a fixed station in King George Island, Antarctica, 1996. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 229:19–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kopcsynska EE, Fiala M, Jeandel C (1998) Annual and interannual variability in phytoplankton at a permanent station off Kerguelen Islands, Southern Ocean. Polar Biol 20:342–351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kopczynska EE (1993) Net phytoplankton annual cycle (February 1990–January 1991) in Admiralty Bay, King George Island, West Antarctic. Pol Polar Res 14(4):383–392

    Google Scholar 

  • Kopczynska EE, Goeyens L, Semeneh M, Dehairs F (1995) Phytoplankton composition and cell carbon distribution in Prydz Bay, Antarctica: relation to organic particulate matter and its δ13C values. J Plankton Res 17(4):685–707

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ligowski R (2000) Benthic feeding by krill, Euphausia superba Dana, in coastal waters off West Antarctica and in Admiralty Bay, South Shetland Islands. Polar Biol 23:619–625

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ligowski R, Kopczÿnska EE (1993) Phytoplankton. In: The marine antarctic coastal ecosystem of Admiralty Bay, pp 45–48

  • Lipski M (1987) Variations of physical conditions, nutrients and chlorophyll a contents in Admiralty Bay (King George Island, South Shetland Islands). Pol Polar Res 8:307–332

    Google Scholar 

  • Lobo L, Leighton G (1986) Estructuras comunitarias de las fitocenosis planctonicas de los sistemas de desembocaduras de rios y esteros de la zona central de Chile. Revista Biología Marina 1(22):1–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Madejski P, Rakusa-Suszczewski S (1990) Icebergs as tracers of water movement in the Bransfield Strait. Antarct Sci 2(3):259–263

    Google Scholar 

  • Medlin LK, Priddle J (1990) Polar marine diatoms. British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, p 214

  • Mohan R, Shanvas S, Thamban M, Sudhakar M (2006) Spatial distribution of diatoms in surface sediments from the Indian sector of Southern Ocean. Curr Sci 91(11):1495–1502

    Google Scholar 

  • Moisan TA, Fryxell GA (1993) The distribution of antarctic diatoms in the Weddell Sea during austral winter. Botanica Marina 36:489–497

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parsons TR, Maita Y, Lalli CM (1984) A manual of chemical and biological methods for seawater analysis. Pergamon Press, Oxford, p 173

    Google Scholar 

  • Peragallo MH, Peragallo M (1921) Diatomées d’eau douce et diatomées d’eau salée. In: Charcot J (ed) Deuxième Expedition Antarctique Française, Masson et Éditeurs, Saint-Germain, Paris (VI):41–102

  • Pichlmaier M, Aquino FE, Da-Silva CS, Braun M (2004) Suspended sediments in Admiralty Bay, King George Island (Antarctica). Braz Antarct Res 4:77–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Platt T, Broomhead DS, Sathyendranath S, Edwards AM, Murphy EJ (2003) Phytoplankton biomass and residual nitrate in the pelagic ecosystem. Proc R Soc Lond A 459:1063–1073

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rakusa-Suszczewski S (1980) Environmental conditions and the functioning of Admiralty Bay (South Shetland Islands) as part of the near shore Antarctic ecosystem. Pol Polar Res 1(1):11–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Rakusa-Suszczewski S, Mietus M, Piasecki J (1993) Weather and climate. In: Rakusa-Suszczewski S (ed) The maritime coastal ecosystem of Admiralty Bay. Dept. Antarctic Biol, Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw, pp 19–25

    Google Scholar 

  • Round FE, Crawford RW, Mann DG (1990) The diatoms biology & morphology of the genera. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p 747

    Google Scholar 

  • Schultes S, Verity PG, Bathmann U (2006) Copepod grazing during an iron-induced diatom bloom in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (EisenEx): I. Feeding patterns and grazing impact on prey populations. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 338:16–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stark JS, Riddle MJ, Simpson RD (2003) Human impacts in soft-sediment assemblages at Casey Station, East Antarctica: spatial variation, taxonomic resolution and data transformation. Aust Ecol 28:287–304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Underwood AJ (1994) On Beyond BACI: sampling designs that might reliably detect environmental disturbances. Ecol Appl 4:3–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Utermöhl H (1958) Perfeccionamento del metodo cuantitativo del fitoplancton. Comum Assoc Int Limnol Teor Apl 9:1–89

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This project is part of a Research Network dedicated to local environmental impact studies in Admiralty Bay, funded primarily by the Brazilian Ministry of Environment (MMA), Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT), and National Research Council (CNPq). We are thankful to the logistical support provided by Interministerial Secretary for the Sea Resources (SECIRM). We thank Dr. Rosalinda Montone (IO-USP) for the oxygen analysis, Vitor Chiozzini and Glaucia Berbel (IOUS-USP) for the salinity and nutrients analysis, Dr. Rodolfo Paranhos (UFRJ) for the chlorophyll a analysis, and Rafael B de Moura for drawing the map of Admiralty Bay. We are also very grateful to Dr. Silvia Nascimento (UENF), Dr. Frederico Brandini (UFPR), Dr. Elzbieta Kopczýnska and two other unidentified reviewers for their useful suggestions to this manuscript, and to Alberto Bezerril and Martha Villac for the English review.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Priscila Kienteca Lange.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lange, P.K., Tenenbaum, D.R., de Santis Braga, E. et al. Microphytoplankton assemblages in shallow waters at Admiralty Bay (King George Island, Antarctica) during the summer 2002–2003. Polar Biol 30, 1483–1492 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-007-0309-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-007-0309-8

Keywords

Navigation