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The coastline of Australia spans tropical to temperate latitudes and encompasses a highly diverse phytoplankton community. Yet little is known about environmental driving forces of compositional and distributional patterns in natural phytoplankton communities of Australia. We investigate the relationships of phytoplankton (pico-, nano-, microphytoplankton, determined by microscopy and CHEMTAX) with a variety of environmental variables along cross-shelf gradients. Case studies were conducted in two highly distinct oceanographic regions of Australia (2010/2012): the tropical-temperate Coffs Harbour region (~ 30°S, 153°E), where the shelf is narrow (~ 30 km), and the tropical Kimberley region (~ 16°S, 122°E), where the shelf is wide (~ 200 km). We distinguished three water masses in both study regions: relatively cold, nutrient-rich inshore waters; oligotrophic, stratified offshore waters; and cold, nutrient-rich deep waters. Most phytoplankton taxa (cyanobacteria, cryptophytes, dinoflagellates, haptophytes and prasinophytes) showed group-specific relationships with similar environmental variables in both regions. Diatoms occurred in nutrient-rich inshore waters in the Kimberley, whereas they were widely spread across the narrow continental shelf at Coffs Harbour. Off Coffs Harbour, a senescent bloom of the diatom Leptocylindrus danicus probably caused shelf-scale surface nutrient depletion. While microphytoplankton clearly increased, pico- and nanophytoplankton decreased with distance from the coast over the wide shelf in the Kimberley region. In contrast, the abundance of individual phytoplankton size-classes remained relatively constant across the narrow Coffs Harbour shelf. We conclude that general similarities exist between the relationship of phytoplankton and cross-shelf environmental variables in the two sites and assign differences primarily to the varying spatial resolution of our case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In situ primary productivity (PP) in the Sub-Antarctic Zone (SAZ) and the Polar Frontal Zone (PFZ) south of Australia was estimated using fast repetition rate fluorometry (FRRF). FRRF-derived PP at Process station 3 (P3) southeast of Tasmania (46°S, 153°E) were higher than P1 in the southwest of Tasmania (46°S, 140°E) and P2 in the Polar Frontal Zone (54°S, 146°E). The FRRF-derived PP rates were well correlated with 14C-uptake rates from one-hour incubations (r 2=0.85, slope=1.23±0.05, p<0.01, n=85) but the relationship between both methods differed vertically and spatially. There was a linear relationship between FRRF-based PP and 14C-based PP under light-limited conditions in deeper waters. Under light-saturated conditions near the surface (0–45m), the relationship was less clear. This was likely associated with the effects of physiological processes such as cyclic electron flow and the Mehler reaction, which are stimulated at high irradiance. Our results indicate that FRRF can be used to estimate photosynthesis rates in the SAZ and PFZ but to derive an accurate estimation of C-fixation requires a detailed understanding of the physiological properties of the cells and their response to oceanographic parameters under different environmental conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Sub-Antarctic Zone (SAZ) in the Southern Ocean provides a significant sink for atmospheric CO2 and quantification of this sink is therefore important in models of climate change. During the SAZ-Sense (Sub-Antarctic Sensitivity to Environmental Change) survey conducted during austral summer 2007, we examined CO2 sequestration through measurement of gross primary production rates using 14C. Sampling was conducted in the SAZ to the south-west and south-east of Tasmania, and in the Polar Frontal Zone (PFZ) directly south of Tasmania. Despite higher chlorophyll biomass off the south-east of Tasmania, production measurements were similar to the south-west with rates of 986.2±500.4 and 1304.3±300.1mgCm−2 d−1, respectively. Assimilation numbers suggested the onset of cell senescence by the time of sampling in the south-east, with healthy phytoplankton populations to the south-west sampled three weeks earlier. Production in the PFZ (475.4±168.7mgCm−2 d−1) was lower than the SAZ, though not significantly. The PFZ was characterised by a defined deep chlorophyll maximum near the euphotic depth (75m) with low production due to significant light limitation. A healthy and less light-limited phytoplankton population occupied the mixed layer of the PFZ, allowing more notable production there despite lower chlorophyll. A hypothesis that iron availability would enhance gross primary production in the SAZ was not supported due to the seasonal effect that masked possible responses. However, highest production (2572.5mgCm−2 d−1) was measured nearby in the Sub-Tropical Zone off south-east Tasmania in a region where iron was likely to be non-limiting (. Biogeochemical iron budgets of the Southern Ocean south of Australia: decoupling of iron and nutrient cycles in the subantarctic zone by the summertime supply. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 23(4), doi:10.1029/2009GB003500). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Protistan species composition and abundance in the Sub-Antarctic Zone (SAZ) and Polar Front Zone (PFZ) south of Tasmania were determined by microscopy and pigment analysis from samples collected during the Sub-Antarctic Zone—Sensitivity of the sub-Antarctic Zone to Environmental Change (SAZ-Sense) voyage, in January and February of 2007. A primary goal of this voyage was to determine the potential effects of climate change-induced natural iron fertilisation of the SAZ on the protistan community by exploring differences between communities in waters west of Tasmania, which are low in iron, and eastern waters, which are fertilised by continental iron input and mixing across the subtropical front. The SAZ is a sink for anthropogenic CO2 in spring, but the magnitude of this may vary depending on seasonal changes in protistan abundance, composition and trophodynamics. Protistan species composition and abundance in the western Sub-Antarctic Zone at process station 1 (P1) showed a community in which low carbon biomass was dominated by a Thalassiosira sp., which was very weakly silicified under strong silica limitation. Protistan cell carbon was dominated by diatoms and nano-picoflagellates at process station 2 (P2) in the Polar Front Zone (PFZ), while dinoflagellates dominated in the iron-enriched waters of eastern SAZ at station 3 (P3). Iron enrichment enhanced production and favoured proliferation of small flagellates during summer in the silica-depleted eastern SAZ rather than large diatoms, though the effect this may have on the vertical export of particulate organic carbon (POC) is still unclear. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]