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Phytoplankton community composition in the south-eastern Black Sea determined with pigments measured by HPLC-CHEMTAX analyses and microscopy cell counts

Ertugrul Agirbas, Ali Muzaffer Feyzioglu, Ulgen Kopuz, Carole Llewellyn

Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, Volume: 95, Issue: 1, Pages: 35 - 52

Swansea University Author: Carole Llewellyn

DOI (Published version): 10.1017/S0025315414001040

Abstract

The phytoplankton community structure and abundance in the south-eastern Black Sea was measured from February to December 2009 using and comparing high performance liquid chromatography pigment and microscopy analyses. The phytoplankton community was characterized by diatoms, dinoflagellates and coc...

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Published in: Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
Published: 2015
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa20551
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Abstract: The phytoplankton community structure and abundance in the south-eastern Black Sea was measured from February to December 2009 using and comparing high performance liquid chromatography pigment and microscopy analyses. The phytoplankton community was characterized by diatoms, dinoflagellates and coccolithophores, as revealed by both techniques.Fucoxanthin, diadinoxanthin, peridinin and 19′-hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin were themain accessory pigments showing significant correlation with diatom-C r2 ¼ 0.56–0.71, P , 0.05), diatom-C (r2 ¼ 0.85–0.91, P , 0.001), dinoflagellate-C (r2 ¼ 0.39–0.88, P , 0.05) and coccolithophore-C (r2 ¼ 0.80–0.71, P , 0.05), respectively.Microscopy counts indicated a total of 89 species, 71%of which were dinoflagellates, 23% were diatoms and 6% other species (mainly coccolithophores). Pigment-CHEMTAX analysis also indicated the presence of pico- and nanoplankton. Phytoplankton carbon (phyto-C) concentrations were highest in the upper water column, whereas chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) showed a deep maximum. Average phyto-C was higher at the coastalstation (291+66 mg l21) than at the offshore station (258+35 mg l21), not statistically different (P . 0.05). The coastal station also had higher Chl-a concentrations (0.52–3.83 mg l21) compared to the offshore station (0.63–2.55 mg l21), not significant (P . 0.05). Our results are consistent with other studies and indicate that the southern Black Sea is shifting towardsmesotrophy with the increasing prevalence of dinoflagellates compared to diatoms.
Keywords: Black Sea, phytoplankton,high performance liquid chromatography, CHEMTAX, pigments
College: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Issue: 1
Start Page: 35
End Page: 52