Is coccolithophore distribution in the Mediterranean Sea related to seawater carbonate chemistry?

A. Oviedo, P. Ziveri, M. Alvarez, T. Tanhua

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The Mediterranean Sea is considered a "hot spot" for climate change, being characterized by oligotrophic to ultra-oligotrophic waters and rapidly increasing seasurface temperature and changing carbonate chemistry. Coccolithophores are considered a dominant phytoplankton group in these waters. As marine calcifying organisms they are expected to respond to the ongoing changes in seawater carbonate chemistry. We provide here a description of the springtime coccolithophore distribution in the Mediterranean Sea and relate this to a broad set of in situ-measured environmental variables. Samples were taken during the R/V Meteor (M84/3) oceanographic cruise in April 2011, between 0 and 100 m water depth from 28 stations. Total diatom and silicoflagellate cell concentrations are also presented. Our results highlight the importance of seawater carbonate chemistry, especially [CO
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)13-32
JournalOcean Science
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015

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