Ivančić, Ingrid; Pfannkuchen, Martin; Godrijan, Jelena; Djakovac, Tamara; Marić Pfannkuchen, Daniela; Korlević, Marino; Gašparović, Blaženka; Najdek-Dragić, Mirjana (2016) Alkaline phosphatase activity related to phosphorus stress of microphytoplankton in different trophic conditions. Progress in Oceanography, 146 . pp. 175-186. ISSN 0079-6611
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Abstract
The northern Adriatic (NA) is a favorable basin for studying the adaptive strategies of plankton to a variety of conditions along the steep gradients of environmental parameters over the year. Earlier studies identified phosphorus(P) limitation as one of the key stresses within the NA that shape the biological response in terms of biodiversity and metabolic adjustments. A wide range of reports supports the notion that P-limitation is a globally important phenomenon in aquatic ecosystems. In this study P stress of marine microphytoplankton was determined at species level along a trophic gradient in the NA. In P-limitation all species with considerable contributions to the diatom community expressed alkaline phosphatase activity (APA), compared to only a few marginal dinoflagellate species. Nevertheless, APA expressing species did not always dominate the phytoplankton community, suggesting that APA is also an important strategy for species to survive and maintain active metabolism outside of their mass abundances. A symbiotic relationship could be supposed for diatoms that did not express APA themselves and probably benefited from APA expressed by attached bacteria. APA was not expressed by any microphytoplankton species during the autumn when P was not limiting, while most of the species did express APA during the P-limitation. This suggests that APA expression is regulated by orthophosphate availability. The methods employed in this study allowed the microscopic detection of APA for each microphytoplankton cell with simultaneous morphologic/taxonomic analysis. This approach uncovered a set of strategies to compete in P-limited conditions within the marine microphytoplankton community. This study confirms the role of P-limitation as a shaping factor in marine ecosystems.
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Additional Information: | We thank Jasna Jakovcevic, Margareta Buterer, and the crew of R/V Vila Velebita for help during sampling and analyses. Dr. D.M. Lyons is thanked for English corrections. Three anonymous referees are thanked for their valuable comments and constructive suggestions. This work was a part of the scientific projects 098-0982705-2729 and 098-0982705-2731 funded by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sport of the Republic of Croatia and UIP-2014-09-6563 funded by the Croatian Science Foundation. | ||||||||||||||||
Uncontrolled Keywords: | alkaline phosphatase; phytoplankton; nutrients; DOP; P-limitation; northern Adriatic | ||||||||||||||||
Subjects: | NATURAL SCIENCES > Biology > Ecology NATURAL SCIENCES > Interdisciplinary Natural Sciences > Marine Science NATURAL SCIENCES > Interdisciplinary Natural Sciences > Environmental Science |
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Divisions: | Center for Marine Research | ||||||||||||||||
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Depositing User: | Ingrid Ivančić | ||||||||||||||||
Date Deposited: | 30 Nov 2017 11:52 | ||||||||||||||||
URI: | http://fulir.irb.hr/id/eprint/3695 | ||||||||||||||||
DOI: | 10.1016/j.pocean.2016.07.003 |
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