JPR Advance Access originally published online on February 28, 2006
Journal of Plankton Research 2006 28(7):629-641; doi:10.1093/plankt/fbi146
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Respiratory ETS activity of plankton in the northwestern Alboran Sea: seasonal variability and relationship with hydrological and biological features
1 Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Málaga, Puerto Pesquero s/n, Apdo. 285, 29640 Fuengirola, Málaga, Spain, 2 Departamento de Física Aplicada II, Universidad de Málaga, Campus Universitario de Teatinos, 29071 Málaga, Spain and 3 Departamento de Ecología, Universidad de Málaga, Campus Universitario de Teatinos, 29071 Málaga, Spain
* Corresponding Author: teodoro.ramirez{at}ma.ieo.es
Received January 30, 2006; accepted in principle February 14, 2006; accepted for publication February 23, 2006; published online February 28, 2006
Communicating editor: K.J. Flynn
Respiratory electron transport system (ETS) activity was measured in plankton samples (<200 µm) collected in the NW Alboran Sea. Sampling was carried out during seasonal cruises (summer and autumn 2003 and winter and spring 2004) in 12 stations located in transects off the coast of Malaga (southern Spain). This work reports for the first time seasonal variations of the Arrhenius activation energy (Ea) as well as being the first study to address CO2 balance in the NW Alboran Sea. These variations were related to changes in the phytoplankton community assemblage, which could ultimately be caused by the seasonal variability of hydrological conditions. ETS activity was significantly higher in summer, coinciding with a higher chlorophyll a (Chl a) concentration and relatively high levels of particulate organic matter. The ETS:Chl atotal ratios were low during the four seasons, suggesting a high contribution of autotrophic phytoplankton to the respiratory activity of planktonic community. Respiratory CO2 production (RCP) calculated from ETS activity ranged from 4.6 to 28.1 mg C m–3 day–1 during the four cruises. Chl a-specific RCP was lower than the maximum photosynthetic rates reported in the literature for the studied area, suggesting that primary production (PP) and respiration in the water column might be unbalanced.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  T. T. Packard and M. Gomez Exploring a first-principles-based model for zooplankton respiration ICES J. Mar. Sci., April 1, 2008; 65(3): 371 - 378. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|