Biogenic carbon flows through the planktonic food web of the Amundsen Gulf (Arctic Ocean): A synthesis of field measurements and inverse modeling analyses

• Published in: Progress in oceanography 2011-12, Vol.91 (4), p.410-436
• Main Authors: Forest, Alexandre, Tremblay, Jean-Éric, Gratton, Yves, Martin, Johannie, Gagnon, Jonathan, Darnis, Gérald, Sampei, Makoto, Fortier, Louis, Ardyna, Mathieu, Gosselin, Michel, Hattori, Hiroshi, Nguyen, Dan, Maranger, Roxane, Vaqué, Dolors, Marrasé, Cèlia, Pedrós-Alió, Carlos, Sallon, Amélie, Michel, Christine, Kellogg, Colleen, Deming, Jody, Shadwick, Elizabeth, Thomas, Helmuth, Link, Heike, Archambault, Philippe, Piepenburg, Dieter
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algae; Bacteria; benthic organisms; biomass; Calanus; Carbon; chlorophyll; climate change; dissolved organic carbon; drawdown; fishery resources; Fluxes; food webs; Foods; Gulfs; herbivores; ice; Marine; marine ecosystems; Mathematical analysis; Mathematical models; Metridia longa; Microorganisms; nitrates; phytoplankton; primary productivity; secondary productivity; surface water temperature; zooplankton
• ISSN: 0079-6611; 1873-4472
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pocean.2011.05.002

Major pathways of biogenic carbon (C) flow are resolved for the planktonic food web of the flaw lead polynya system of the Amundsen Gulf (southeast Beaufort Sea, Arctic Ocean) in spring-summer 2008. This period was relevant to study the effect of climate change on Arctic marine ecosystems as it was characterized by unusually low ice cover and warm sea surface temperature. Our synthesis relied on a mass balance estimate of gross primary production (GPP) of 52.5±12.5gCm⁻² calculated using the drawdown of nitrate and dissolved inorganic C, and a seasonal f-ratio of 0.64. Based on chlorophyll a biomass, we estimated that GPP was dominated by phytoplankton (93.6%) over ice algae (6.4%) and by large cells (>5μm, 67.6%) over small cells (