Abundance and diversity of tintinnids (planktonic ciliates) under contrasting levels of productivity in the Argentine Shelf and Drake Passage

• Published in: Journal of Sea Research
• Main Authors: Santoferrara, Luciana Fernanda, Alder, Viviana Andrea
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Science
• Subjects: ABUNDANCE; BIOMASS; DIVERSITY; SPECIES RICHNESS; SW ATLANTIC; TINTINNID CILIATES; https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6; https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1; Drake Passage; Argentino; Argentina; Argentine; Dirección Nacional del Antártico; Instituto Antártico Argentino
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11336/195430

The relationship between the abundance and diversity of tintinnids and the concentration of chlorophyll a (Chla) was contrasted between neritic and oceanic waters of the SW Atlantic during autumn and summer. Chla and tintinnid abundance and biomass reached maximum values (17.53μgL -1, 2.76×10 3ind.L -1, and 6.29μgCL -1, respectively) in shelf waters during summer, and their mean values generally differed by one order of magnitude between environments. Peaks in species richness (13) and Shannon diversity index (2.12) were found in the shelf-ocean boundary, but both variables showed nonsignificant differences between areas. Species richness correlated significantly with both Chla and abundance. Such relationships, which followed a negative linear or quadratic function in the shelf and a positive linear function in oceanic waters, are thought to reflect either the competitive dominance of one species or a relatively wide spectrum of tintinnid size-classes, respectively. Fil: Santoferrara, Luciana Fernanda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución; Argentina Fil: Alder, Viviana Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución; Argentina. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Comercio Interno y Culto. Dirección Nacional del Antártico. Instituto Antártico Argentino; Argentina