Transatlantic abundance of the N2-fixing colonial cyanobacterium Trichodesmium.
Colonial diazotrophic cyanobacteria of the genus Trichodesmium are thought to play a significant role in the input of new nitrogen to upper layers of the tropical and subtropical oceanic ecosystems that cover nearly half of Earth's surface. Here we describe results of a transatlantic survey in which a noninvasive underwater digital microscope (the video plankton recorder), was towed across the North Atlantic at 6 meters per second while undulating between the surface and 130 meters. Colony abundance had a basin-scale trend, a clear association with anticyclonic eddies, and was not affected by hurricane-forced mixing. Subsurface abundance was higher than previously reported, which has important implications for the global ocean nitrogen cycle.
Davis
Cabell S
CS
Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543-1541, USA. cdavis@whoi.edu
McGillicuddy
Dennis J
DJ
D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D008853:Microscopy; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D009586:Nitrogen Fixation; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology*; D014743:Videotape Recording
D009584:Nitrogen