Environmental controls on Emiliania huxleyi morphotypes in the Benguela coastal upwelling system (SE Atlantic)

Two distinct morphotypes of the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi were observed as part of the phytoplankton succession offshore of Namibia, where coastal upwelling created strong gradients in sea surface temperature (SST), salinity, and nutrient conditions. The sampled surface waters hosted a chara...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine ecology. Progress series (Halstenbek) 2012-02, Vol.448, p.51-66
Main Authors: Henderiks, J, Winter, A, Elbrächter, M, Feistel, R, der Plas, Av, Nausch, G, Barlow, R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bacillariophyceae
Coastal upwelling
Coccolithus huxleyi
Ecology
Emiliania huxleyi
Marine
Morphology
Namibia
Plankton succession
Syracosphaera
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Summary:Two distinct morphotypes of the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi were observed as part of the phytoplankton succession offshore of Namibia, where coastal upwelling created strong gradients in sea surface temperature (SST), salinity, and nutrient conditions. The sampled surface waters hosted a characteristic succession of phytoplankton communities: diatoms bloomed in newly upwelled waters above the shelf, whereas dense coccolithophore communities dominated by E. huxleyi were found farther offshore, in progressively aging upwelled waters. A substantially calcified E. huxleyi morphotype (labeled Type A) dominated plankton assemblages at stations influenced by upwelling, that immediately succeeded coastal diatom blooms. This morphotype caused a chlorophyll and 19'-hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin (19'-HF) maximum with >1 - 10 super(6 cells l) super(-)1, straddling a pycnocline at 17 m depth where the in situ N:P ratio was -13. Farther offshore, within
ISSN:0171-8630
1616-1599
1616-1599
DOI:10.3354/meps09535