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JPR Advance Access originally published online on May 19, 2009
Journal of Plankton Research 2009 31(8):837-851; doi:10.1093/plankt/fbp033
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Abundance trends and ecology of planktonic ciliates of the south-western Atlantic (35–63°S): a comparison between neritic and oceanic environments

Luciana Santoferrara1,2,* and Viviana Alder1,2,3

1 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones, Científicas y Técnicas, Av. Rivadavia 1917 C1033AAJ, Buenos Aires, Argentina 2 Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, C1428EHA Buenos Aires, Argentina 3 Instituto Antártico Argentino, Cerrito 1248, C1010AAZ Buenos Aires, Argentina

* CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: lusantoferrara{at}ege.fcen.uba.ar

Received on February 3, 2009; revised on April 17, 2009; accepted on April 22, 2009


  Abstract

Ciliates from sub-surface waters of the Argentine shelf and the Drake Passage under austral summer and autumn conditions were examined and compared for the first time. In both environments, the taxonomic structure of ciliates was related to temperature and salinity, and aloricate oligotrichs dominated in density (80%) over loricate oligotrichs, litostomatids and prostomatids, while the microplanktonic fraction prevailed in terms of biomass (90%) over the nanociliates. Myrionecta rubra was found all along the Argentine shelf only in autumn, but showed isolated peaks of abundance (103 ind. L–1) during summer. Mean values of density and biomass of total ciliates decreased ca. 2-fold from the shelf-slope to oceanic waters, while potential maximum production of aloricate oligotrichs decreased 9-fold, in relation with the drop in chlorophyll a concentration and the latitudinal decline of temperature, also reflected in maximum growth rates. Fifty percent of total ciliate abundance was represented by local increases (maximum: 20 000 ind. L–1 and 25 µg C L–1), which were spatially superimposed with ranges of seawater temperature and chlorophyll a concentrations of 10–15°C and 0.6–6 µg L–1, respectively, and were found in the nearby of fronts located on the shelf and the slope.

Corresponding editor: John Dolan


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