Tintinnid ciliates of Amundsen Sea (Antarctica) plankton communities

• Published in: Polar Research
• Main Authors: Dolan, John R., Yang, Eun Jin, Hong Lee, Sang, Kim, Sun Yong
• Other Authors: Laboratoire d'océanographie de Villefranche (LOV), Observatoire océanologique de Villefranche-sur-mer (OOVM), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Korean Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI), Department of Oceanography, Inha University
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2013
• Subjects: [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; Amundsen Sea; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica; Polar Research
• Online Access: https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-01619336; https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-01619336/document; https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-01619336/file/19_10_2017_Tintinnid%20.pdf; https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v32i0.19784

International audience The Amundsen Sea has been described as one of the most productive and dynamic pelagic systems in Antarctica and is one of the least studied. Based on samples from 15 stations in the Amundsen Sea, we describe for the first time the composition of the tintinnid ciliate assemblage of the microzooplankton. We compared the species compositions of coastal polynya sites, where the phytoplankton communities are dominated by Phaeocystis, to those of the offshore deep water sites, which are dominated by diatoms. We found a total of 15 species. Polynya sites were dominated by a few species of tintinnids, mostly those endemic to the Southern Ocean. In contrast, the deep-water sites contained many widespread tintinnid species, which are known from a wide variety of systems as well as other areas of the Southern Ocean. We examined polymorphism known to characterize the Antarctic tintinnid species Cymatocylis affinis/convallaria and Codonellopsis gaussi. We found that the types or forms found appeared unrelated to the type of microplankton community, defined by the identity of the dominant phytoplankton taxa. However, the number of different morphotypes found at a site appeared related to the overall concentration of the species, suggesting that different morphologies, previously considered distinct species, may simply be developmental stages.