Oceanic frontal divergence alters phytoplankton competition and distribution
Ecological interactions among phytoplankton occur in a moving fluid environment. Oceanic flows can modulate the competition and coexistence between phytoplankton populations, which in turn can affect ecosystem function and biogeochemical cycling. We explore the impact of submesoscale velocity gradients on phytoplankton ecology using observations, simulations, and theory. Observations reveal that the relative abundance of Synechoccocus oligotypes varies on 1--10 km scales at an ocean front with submesoscale velocity gradients at the same scale. Simulations in realistic flow fields demonstrate that regions of divergence in the horizontal flow field can substantially modify ecological competition and dispersal on timescales of hours to days. Regions of positive (negative) divergence provide an advantage (disadvantage) to local populations, resulting in up to ~20% variation in community composition in our model. We propose that submesoscale divergence is a plausible contributor to observed taxonomic variability at oceanic fronts, and can lead to regional variability in community composition.
Code (0)
등록된 구현이 없습니다.
Similar Papers 제목 키워드 기반
Oceanic Eddy Identification Using an AI Scheme
Oceanic eddies play an important role in global energyand material transport, and contribute greatly to nutrient and phytoplankton distribution. Deep learning is employed to identify oceanic eddies from sea surface hei…
Scene ParsingStatic and auto-regressive neural emulation of phytoplankton biomass dynamics from physical predictors in the global ocean
Phytoplankton is the basis of marine food webs, driving both ecological processes and global biogeochemical cycles. Despite their ecological and climatic significance, accurately simulating phytoplankton dynamics remains…
Intermittent Upwelling Events Trigger Delayed, Major, and Reproducible Pico-Nanophytoplankton Responses in Coastal Oligotrophic Waters
Pico-nanophytoplankton organisms are dominant in oceanic oligotrophic areas but their adaptive growth rates make their contribution to the carbon cycle difficult to estimate. Here we address their response capacities aft…
PICOSeed banks can help to maintain the diversity of interacting phytoplankton species
Seed formation is part of the reproductive cycle, leading to the accumulation of resistance stages that can withstand harsh environmental conditions for long periods of time. At the community level, multiple species with…
DiversityPhyTracker: An Online Tracker for Phytoplankton
Phytoplankton, a crucial component of aquatic ecosystems, requires efficient monitoring to understand marine ecological processes and environmental conditions. Traditional phytoplankton monitoring methods, relying on non…