Temporal variation of microalgae and environmental factors in the surface water of Antarctica, 2010

Abstract

As for a research on the ecology of microalgae in Antarctic coastal waters, the microalgae communities and the temporal influences of environmental factors were investigated in Antarctica. The research was conducted from Jan. 1, 2010 through Dec. 31, 2010 at a fixed point in Antarctica. Out of all the species of microalgae appearing in this study area, this study discovered a total of 73 species including, 2 species of dinoflagellates, 67 species of diatoms, 1 species of cryptophytes, 1 species of haptophytes, 1 species of silicoflagellates, and 1 species of prasinophytes. As the abundance of microalgae was counted at the number of 9.56 X 105 cells L-1 on annual average, it was lower in the wintertime and tended to increase during summertime. With the exclusion of pico-sized microalgae, haptophyte Phaeocystis sp., dominated in the area for most of the research period, while diatom Thalassiosira spp., below 10㎛ in size was dominant only in August While it turned out that in 2010 the abundance of microalgae showed distinct seasonal change in Antarctica, in which the changes in species composition of microalgae were seasonally affected by various environmental factors. The major conclusion of this study is that, among numerous environmental factors such as water temperature and solar radiation had much effect on the growth and development of microalgae in Antarctica. ※ This research was a part of the project titled 'K-PORT (KOPRI, PM15040)', funded by the MOF, Korea.