Microzooplankton growth rates examined across a temperature gradient in the Barents Sea.

• Published in: PLoS ONE
• Main Authors: Gayantonia Franzè, Peter J Lavrentyev
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014
• Subjects: Medicine; R; Science; Q; Arctic; Barents Sea; Phytoplankton
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0086429; https://doaj.org/article/ca2a64dfed9043cd9153d75d3357c72d

Growth rates (µ) of abundant microzooplankton species were examined in field experiments conducted at ambient sea temperatures (-1.8-9.0°C) in the Barents Sea and adjacent waters (70-78.5°N). The maximum species-specific µ of ciliates and athecate dinoflagellates (0.33-1.67 d(-1) and 0.52-1.14 d(-1), respectively) occurred at temperatures below 5°C and exceeded the µmax predicted by previously published, laboratory culture-derived equations. The opposite trend was found for thecate dinoflagellates, which grew faster in the warmer Atlantic Ocean water. Mixotrophic ciliates and dinoflagellates grew faster than their heterotrophic counterparts. At sub-zero temperatures, microzooplankton µmax matched those predicted for phytoplankton by temperature-dependent growth equations. These results indicate that microzooplankton protists may be as adapted to extreme Arctic conditions as their algal prey.