Structure and Distribution of Phytoplankton Communities during Summer Season in Arctic Sea, 2011

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that photosynthetic eukaryotes are an active and often dominant component of Arctic phytoplankton assemblages. In order to investigate the structure of phytoplankton communities, this study was carried out at 18 stations from July 29 to August 20, 2011 in the Chukchi Sea and Canadian Basin. Concentrations of total microphytoplankton, and nano-picophytoplankton chlorophyll <em>a</em> were higher at southwest area than northern area in the study area due to Bering shelf Anadyr Water current from Bering Strait. On the Melting ponds in Canadian Basin, phytoplankton communities were composed of 31 taxa representing Bacillariophyceae, Chrysophyceae, Dictyochophyceae, Prasinophyceae and unidentified phytoplankton(< 20㎛). The most abundant species were<em> Pyramimonas </em>sp. and <em>Thalassiosira </em>sp. except nano-pico sized phytoplankton in Melting pond.