Horizontal and Vertical Distribution of Antarctic Phytoplankton at the Weddell Sea Ice Edge Zone

Abstract

The scope of this research is to quantify phytoplankton cell numbers at the Antarctic ice edge in horizontal and vertical dimensions during austral winter. Identification is to the species level where possible. Other methods of estimating phytoplankton biomass are currently used in the field. Phytoplankton biomass can be assessed by extracting chlorophyll a, a pigment common to all divisions of phytoplankton, and measuring its concentration spectrophotometrically. A method analyzing algal pigment fingerprints using the High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) has also been developed recently. These methods estimate biomass as a whole and do not, in general, delineate between the different phytoplankton divisions or assess diversity or community structure. The amount of Chlorophyll a does not always correspond to cell number since different species have different cellular volumes: chlorophyll a content is cyclical and the chlorophyll a content per cell can be bleached in surface water.