Seasonal progression of microbial communities on the Faroe shelf

Abstract

Microorganisms, such as phytoplankton and bacterioplankton, are affected by turnover rates of nutrients and show great fluctuations over seasons. In productive coastal areas, the biomass of bacterioplankton can be in the same range as that of phytoplankton. In these coastal areas the initiation and intensity of the spring bloom is highly variable between years. This variability is reflected in higher trophic levels and is therefore of major importance for ecosystems such as that of the Faroe Islands. However, one of the major unknown components is the bacterioplankton. We report a study on seasonal dynamics from March–September of nutrients, phytoplankton composition and their co-fluctuation with bacterial succession. For this purpose SAR11, Bacteroidetes, Roseobacter and cyanobacteria were relatively quantified using real-time PCR based on 16S DNA and total bacteria was assessed by epifluorescence microscopy. The phytoplankton species were identified using the inverted microscope technique. These data showed a pronounced diatom spring bloom and autumn bloom reflected by a corresponding decrease in nitrate and silicate (R² = 0.72 and 0.77, respectively). The cessation of the phytoplankton bloom did not, however, seem to be explained by nutrient limitation. Roseobacter bloomed during the phytoplankton spring bloom, while the other bacterial groups increased during low phytoplankton biomass. This suggests that algal substrate availability and environmental conditions provide the opportunity for bacterial communities to develop a post-spring bloom. This study reveals how planktonic bacteria adapt with their surroundings, enhancing the microbial loop post-spring bloom and providing a potentially important food resource for higher trophic levels.

Key words:

• Bacterioplankton
• Faroe shelf
• phytoplankton ecology
• primary production
• seasonal dynamics

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the Food and Veterinary Agency, especially Ann Siri Borg Hentze, Kristín Baldvinsdóttir and Marita Næs, for their helpful cooperation and assistance with all the genetic research. From the Faroe Marine Research Institute we would like to thank Sólvá Jacobsen, Dánjal Petur Højgaard and Petur Steingrund for encouragement and Eilif Gaard for help with phytoplankton identification and intellectual input. Fróðskaparsetur Føroya is acknowledged for academic guidance, and we would like to thank Knút Simonsen for oceanographic direction and Svein-Ole Mikalsen for taking an interest in our project.

Supplementary material (Table SI, SII)

The supplementary material for this article is available via the Supplemental tab of the article's online page at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17451000.2015.1041532

Editorial responsibility: Hongyue Dang