Estimation of seasonal and interannual variations in the biomass and phytoplankton composition of the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean over the last two decades and evaluation of their ecological consequences

• Main Author: Le Ster, Loïc
• Other Authors: Laboratoire d'océanographie de Villefranche (LOV), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de la Mer de Villefranche (IMEV), Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Sorbonne Université, Hervé Claustre, Christophe Guinet
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2023
• Subjects: Phytoplankton; Southern Ocean; Remote sensing; Bio-Logging; Phytoplancton; Océan Austral; Couleur de l'eau; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography; Austral; Kerguelen; Indian; Elephant Seal; Elephant Seals
• Online Access: https://hal.science/tel-04255749; https://hal.science/tel-04255749v2/document; https://hal.science/tel-04255749v2/file/LE_STER_Loic_these_2023.pdf

The Southern Ocean (SO) plays a critical role in the uptake and storage of anthropogenic carbon due to the combined action of physical and biological pumps (Boyd et al. 2019 DOI:10.1038/s41586-019-1098-2). Furthermore, the Southern Ocean provides half of the primary production of the biosphere. Recent analyses nevertheless suggest a change in surface chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentrations in the Southern Ocean with an increasing trend, especially over the winter period (Del Castillo et al. 2019 DOI:10.1029/2019GL083163). Given the phenology of the different phytoplankton species, this trend and the associated temporal shift could imply a change in the composition of phytoplankton communities succeeding each other during the year. This hypothesis is supported, but not verified, by work done at the CEBC revealing a continuous decrease in the δ13C isotopic signature of Kerguelen elephant seals over the period 2006-2018 while the signature of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) did not vary over the same period (SNO-OISO data, N. Metzl personal comm.). This change in elephant seal composition reflects a potential change in the quality of phytoplankton at the base of the food chains on which they depend (Schell et al., 1989 DOI:10.1007/BF00399575; Cherel and Hobson, 2007 DOI:10.3354/meps329281). The objective of the project is firstly to estimate quantitative variations in phytoplankton biomass in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean, and secondly, to assess the associated qualitative changes in phytoplankton community composition, as well as their impacts on the ecology of large predators such as the elephant seal. L’Océan Austral (OA) joue un rôle essentiel dans l’absorption et le stockage du carbone d’origine anthropique du fait de l’action combinée des pompes physique et biologique (Boyd et al. 2019 DOI :10.1038/s41586-019-1098-2). Par ailleurs l’océan austral assure la moitié de la production primaire de la biosphère. Des analyses récentes suggèrent néanmoins une modification des concentrations en chlorophylle-a ...