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Phytoplankton growth and grazing mortality through the oligotrophic subtropical North Pacific

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Abstract

The subtropical North Pacific has been historically considered as a stable and homogenous oligotrophic marine ecosystem. The consistently low phytoplankton biomass has been attributed to a close balance between phytoplankton growth and grazing mortality. However, phytoplankton summer blooms were frequently observed in the central North Pacific near the Hawaiian Islands. To determine whether this is a result of unbalanced phytoplankton growth and microzooplankton grazing, we conducted a trans-Pacific cruise through the subtropical North Pacific. The growth and microzooplankton grazing mortality rates of the phytoplankton community and specific groups in the surface layer (10 m), were examined by dilution experiments. Positive phytoplankton net growth rates (0.34 ± 0.29 day−1) were observed under the depletion of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN, < 40 nM) throughout the study area. However, considering the grazing of micro- and mesozooplankton collectively, the phytoplankton growth was largely consumed (net growth rate of 0.08 ± 0.15 day−1), except in the central North Pacific (net growth rate of 0.42 ± 0.11 day−1). Phytoplankton biomass accumulation in this area was also demonstrated by the satellite-observed Chl a, although this was just sustained for a few days. The high phytoplankton growth rate in the central North Pacific (0.84 ± 0.26 day−1) was a result of the dominant Prochlorococcus, which contributed 88% of the community Chl a. The weak response of Prochlorococcus growth to ammonium addition indicates their growth (1.14 ± 0.55 day−1) was not limited by the ambient DIN and was likely a result of their advantage of utilizing various dissolved organic nitrogen.

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Acknowledgements

This cruise, identified as KH-17-4, was performed under the cooperative research system of the Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, the University of Tokyo. We thank the captain and crew of the R/V Hakuho-Maru for their cooperation at sea. We thank Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG) for providing the satellite observed data. Kazutaka Takahashi and Sijun Chen kindly supported the HPLC analysis. We also acknowledge Mitsuhide Sato and Sachiko Horii for providing their unpublished data which was used for our further discussion. Andrew Hirst kindly revised the manuscript. This study was partly supported by JSPS/MEXT KAKENHI 24121003 (HS, FH) and the Study of Kuroshio Ecosystem Dynamics for Sustainable Fisheries (SKED) funded by the MEXT (HS).

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  1. Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan

    Siyu Jiang & Hiroaki Saito

  2. Department of Ocean Sciences, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Tokyo, Japan

    Fuminori Hashihama

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  1. Siyu Jiang
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  2. Fuminori Hashihama
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SJ and HS conceived and designed the study. SJ performed the dilution experiments and analysis. FH performed the nutrients analysis by the highly sensitive liquid waveguide spectrophotometry. SJ wrote the manuscript and prepared the tables and figures. All authors edited the manuscript.

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Jiang, S., Hashihama, F. & Saito, H. Phytoplankton growth and grazing mortality through the oligotrophic subtropical North Pacific. J Oceanogr 77, 505–521 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10872-020-00580-4

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