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Interannual variations in phytoplankton community structure in the northern California Current during the upwelling seasons of 2001−2010

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Title Interannual variations in phytoplankton community structure in the northern California Current during the upwelling seasons of 2001−2010
Names Du, Xiuning (creator)
Peterson, William (creator)
O'Higgins, Linda (creator)
Date Issued 2015-01-20 (iso8601)
Note To the best of our knowledge, one or more authors of this paper were federal employees when contributing to this work. This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by Inter-Research and can be found at: http://www.int-res.com/journals/meps/meps-home/.
Abstract Phytoplankton species were enumerated from 72 samples collected biweekly during
the upwelling season (May to August) of 2001−2010 to test for effects of interannual variations in
upwelling and decadal basin-scale variability on phytoplankton species composition and community
structure. Cluster analysis of phytoplankton community structure identified 7 groups; 1 group
was dominated by dinoflagellates while the other groups were dominated by diatoms but with
variable ratios of diatom-to-dinoflagellate abundance ranging from 4 to 847. The most abundant
diatoms were Thalassiosira spp., Chaetoceros spp., Asterionellopsis glacialis, Cylindrotheca
closterium, Leptocylindrus spp., Nitzschia and Pseudo-nitzschia spp., with dominance varying
among the 7 groups. Variations in phytoplankton community structure were not related to the
strength of upwelling within a given year; rather, differences were related to when a sample was
collected within an upwelling/downwelling cycle. Community structure was also analyzed by
non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination. The x-axis scores of the ordination, which is an
index of community structure, were correlated with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) but not
with seasonally averaged coastal upwelling strength. Positive values of the index corresponded
with positive PDO years (2002−2007), and negative index values with negative PDO years (2001,
2008−2010). Thus changes in the sign of the PDO seem to be more influential in explaining the
interannual variations in phytoplankton community structure than seasonally averaged coastal
upwelling.
Genre Article
Topic Diatom
Identifier Du, X., Peterson, W., & O’Higgins, L. (2015). Interannual variations in phytoplankton community structure in the northern California Current during the upwelling seasons of 2001-2010. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 519, 75-87. doi:10.3354/meps11097

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