The ecology of one cosmopolitan, one newly introduced and one occasionally advected species from the genus Skeletonema in a highly structured ecosystem, the northern Adriatic

Marić Pfannkuchen, Daniela; Godrijan, Jelena; Smodlaka Tanković, Mirta; Baričević, Ana; Kužat, Nataša; Djakovac, Tamara; Pustijanac, Emina; Jahn, Regine; Pfannkuchen, Martin (2018) The ecology of one cosmopolitan, one newly introduced and one occasionally advected species from the genus Skeletonema in a highly structured ecosystem, the northern Adriatic. Microbial Ecology, 75 (3). pp. 674-687. ISSN 0095-3628

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-017-1069-9

Abstract

The diatom genus Skeletonema is globally distributed and often an important constituent of the phytoplankton community. In the marine phytoplankton of the northern Adriatic Sea, we found three species of the genus Skeletonema. S. menzelii, S. marinoi, and S. grevillei. Making use of the steep ecological gradients that characterize the northern Adriatic, we report here on the ecological circumstances under which those species thrive and how their respective populations are globally connected. This is the first detailed ecological study for the species S. grevillei. This study is also the first report for S. grevillei for the Adriatic Sea and Mediterranean together with additional electron microscopic details on fresh in situ samples for this species. S. marinoi appears to clearly prefer open waters with strong freshwater influence and high nutrient concentrations. It can outcompete other diatom species and dominate microphytoplankton blooms. S. grevillei on the other hand appears to thrive in high nutrient concentrations triggered by water column mixing. It also appears to prefer higher salinity waters. Genetic analysis of S. grevillei demonstrated a peculiar dissimilarity with isolates from coastal waters off Yemen India, Oman, and China. However, a closely related sequence was isolated from coastal waters off Japan. These results indicate that S. grevillei is an introduced species, possibly transported by ballast waters. S. menzelii is a sporadic visitor in the northern Adriatic and never dominates the phytoplankton community

Item Type:

Article

Additional Information:

We are grateful for the work of Jasna Jakovcevic, Denis Skalic and Margareta Buterer in ocean sampling and in the analysis of oceanographic parameters as well as in database handling. This work was supported by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia as well as by the scientific project UIP-2014-09-6563 (Phytoplankton life strategies in the northern Adriatic), funded by the Croatian Science Foundation as well as by the EU SYNTHESYS projects DE-TAF-4090 and DE-TAF-4112. D.M.P. is grateful to teachers and colleagues from the 11th Advanced Phytoplankton Course where these results were discussed for the first time. We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their insightful improvements of the manuscript.

Uncontrolled Keywords:

phytoplankton ; Adriatic Sea ; diatoms ; Skeletonema

Subjects:

NATURAL SCIENCES > Geology

Divisions:

Center for Marine Research

Projects: