BIOGEOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF THE ARMORED PLANKTONIC DINOFLAGELLATE CERATIUM IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC AND ADJACENT SEAS 1

• Published in: Journal of Phycology
• Main Authors: Dodge, John D., Marshall, Harold G.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1994
• Subjects: Arctic; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-3646.1994.00905.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.0022-3646.1994.00905.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.0022-3646.1994.00905.x

ABSTRACT The distribution of the dinoflagellate genus Ceratium Schrank (Dinophyceae) in the North Atlantic and adjacent seas was studied by a combination of new observations on a large number of plankton samples collected from the northeastern Atlantic and North Sea, data from cruises off the east coast of North America and Caribbean Sea, and reports in the literature of the past 90 years. Seventy species were recorded, and their distribution was examined by several methods. Distribution maps were plotted for all species, and from these the ranges of temperature tolerance were derived. The 240 sets of data, which took the form of lists of species present in 5° latitude / longitude blocks obtained from the new work and the published material, were analyzed by clustering and ordination multivariate techniques using the programs Twinspan and Decorana. Analysis of the individual species showed that surface water temperature is the most important factor determining distribution and the number of species in a particular area. Warm water and /or low latitudes have many more species than cold waters and/or high latitudes. For example, at 5°N there are on average 23 species per block, whereas at 60° N there are only 8 species. On the basis of this work, the Ceratium species are divided into Group 1, Arctic‐temperate species normally only found in water of less than 15°C; Group 2, cosmopolitan species, which are found virtually everywhere and are the species most likely to form blooms or “brown water”; Group 3, intermediate species, which extend into neither the coldest nor the warmest water; Group 4, temperate‐tropical species, which have a lower temperature boundary of 5°–12° C; Group 5, warm‐temperate‐tropical species with a lower temperature boundary of 14°–15°C; and Group 6, tropical species, which are rarely found in water of less than 20° C. Analysis of the sample sites also confirmed the predominant influence of temperature, and the Atlantic Ocean was divided into four biogeographical zones of which the boundaries ...