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Microzooplankton grazing is an essential parameter to predict the fate of organic matter production in planktonic food webs. To identify predictors of grazing, we leveraged a 6‐yr time series of coastal plankton growth and grazing rates across contrasting environmental conditions. Phytoplankton size–structure and trophic transfer were seasonally consistent with small phytoplankton cell dominance and low trophic transfer in summer, and large cell dominance and higher trophic transfer in winter. Departures from this pattern during two disruptive events revealed a critical link between phytoplankton size–structure and trophic transfer. An unusual summer bloom of large phytoplankton cells yielded high trophic transfer, and an atypical winter dominance of small phytoplankton resulted in seasonally atypical low trophic transfer. Environmental conditions during these events were neither seasonally atypical nor unique. Thus, phytoplankton size–structure rather than environmental conditions held a key‐role driving trophic transfer. Phytoplankton size–structure is easily measurable and could impart predictive power of food‐web structure and the fate of primary production in coastal ecosystems.

 

Picophytoplankton are a ubiquitous component of marine plankton communities and are expected to be favored by global increases in seawater temperature and stratification associated with climate change. Eukaryotic and prokaryotic picophytoplankton have distinct ecology, and global models predict that the two groups will respond differently to future climate scenarios. At a nearshore observatory on the Northeast US Shelf, however, decades of year‐round monitoring have shown these two groups to be highly synchronized in their responses to environmental variability. To reconcile the differences between regional and global predictions for picophytoplankton dynamics, we here investigate the picophytoplankton community across the continental shelf gradient from the nearshore observatory to the continental slope. We analyze flow cytometry data from 22 research cruises, comparing the response of picoeukaryote andSynechococcuscommunities to environmental variability across time and space. We find that the mechanisms controlling picophytoplankton abundance differ across taxa, season, and distance from shore. Like the prokaryote,Synechococcus, picoeukaryote division rates are limited nearshore by low temperatures in winter and spring, and higher temperatures offshore lead to an earlier spring bloom. UnlikeSynechococcus, picoeukaryote concentration in summer decreases dramatically in offshore surface waters and exhibits deeper subsurface maxima. The offshore picoeukaryote community appears to be nutrient limited in the summer and subject to much greater loss rates thanSynechococcus. This work both produces and demonstrates the necessity of taxon‐ and site‐specific knowledge for accurately predicting the responses of picophytoplankton to ongoing environmental change.

 

During Northeast U.S. Shelf Long-Term Ecological Research (NES-LTER) Transect cruises, acoustic backscattering layers were identified using multifrequency echosounders and were targeted for collection of zooplankton and micronekton using an Isaacs-Kidd Midwater Trawl. On each cruise, trawling was conducted at at least three stations, including the one at the shelfbreak front, one inshore of the front, and one offshore of the front. The catches from the trawls were preserved on ship and later identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level using a dissecting microscope. Each identified taxon was counted to provide net total abundance by taxon. Trawling was initiated in spring 2023 and is ongoing. 

Long-term ecological time series provide a unique perspective on the emergent properties of ecosystems. In aquatic systems, phytoplankton form the base of the food web and their biomass, measured as the concentration of the photosynthetic pigment chlorophylla(chla), is an indicator of ecosystem quality. We analyzed temporal trends in chlafrom the Long-Term Plankton Time Series in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, USA, a temperate estuary experiencing long-term warming and changing anthropogenic nutrient inputs. Dynamic linear models were used to impute and model environmental variables (1959 to 2019) and chlaconcentrations (1968 to 2019). A long-term chladecrease was observed with an average decline in the cumulative annual chlaconcentration of 49% and a marked decline of 57% in winter-spring bloom magnitude. The long-term decline in chlaconcentration was directly and indirectly associated with multiple environmental factors that are impacted by climate change (e.g., warming temperatures, water column stratification, reduced nutrient concentrations) indicating the importance of accounting for regional climate change effects in ecosystem-based management. Analysis of seasonal phenology revealed that the winter–spring bloom occurred earlier, at a rate of 4.9 ± 2.8 d decade⁻¹. Finally, the high degree of temporal variation in phytoplankton biomass observed in Narragansett Bay appears common among estuaries, coasts, and open oceans. The commonality among these marine ecosystems highlights the need to maintain a robust set of phytoplankton time series in the coming decades to improve signal-to-noise ratios and identify trends in these highly variable environments.

 

Abstract. Because of its temperate location, high dynamic range of environmental conditions, and extensive human activity, the long-term ecological research site in the coastal Northeastern US Shelf (NES) of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean offers an ideal opportunity to understand how productivity shifts in response to changes in planktonic community composition. Ocean production and trophic transfer rates, including net community production (NCP), net primary production (NPP), gross oxygen production (GOP), and microzooplankton grazing rates, are key metrics for understanding marine ecosystem dynamics and associated impacts on biogeochemical cycles. Although small phytoplankton usually dominate phytoplankton community composition and Chl a concentration in the NES waters during the summer, in August 2019, a bloom of the large diatom genus Hemiaulus, with N2-fixing symbionts, was observed in the mid-shelf region. NCP was 2.5 to 9 times higher when Hemiaulus dominated phytoplankton carbon compared to NCP throughout the same geographic area during the summers of 2020–2022. The Hemiaulus bloom in summer 2019 also coincided with higher trophic transfer efficiency from phytoplankton to microzooplankton and higher GOP and NPP than in the summers 2020–2022. This study suggests that the dominance of an atypical phytoplankton community that alters the typical size distribution of primary producers can significantly influence productivity and trophic transfer, highlighting the dynamic nature of the coastal ocean. Notably, summer 2018 NCP levels were also high, although the size distribution of Chl a was typical and an atypical phytoplankton community was not observed. A better understanding of the dynamics of the NES in terms of biological productivity is of primary importance, especially in the context of changing environmental conditions due to climate processes.

 

In order to calculate net community production (NCP) rates on Northeast U.S. Shelf Long-Term Ecological Research (NES-LTER) transect cruises, gas tracer data were collected with a continuous at-sea mass spectrometer. The ratio of O2/Ar, measured continuously from underway water, yields 8,000-15,000 rates of NCP per cruise. Discrete water samples (50 to 150 per cruise) were collected for triple oxygen isotope (TOI) analysis to estimate gross primary production (GPP) rates and ratios of NCP/GPP. Along-shelf (upstream-downstream) transects were conducted in addition to the main across-shelf transect. This data package provides two types of data tables for NES-LTER transect cruises beginning in 2018: a high-frequency continuous Equilibration Inlet Mass Spectrometer (EIMS) table, provided by year, and a low-frequency discrete triple oxygen isotope (TOI) table with all years combined. Rates calculated from these measurements are provided as separate packages, per year, in the EDI repository. 

This data package provides net community production (NCP) and gross oxygen production (GOP, a measure of gross primary production) for the winter and summer Northeast U.S. Shelf Long-Term Ecological Research (NES-LTER) Transect cruises in 2021. Two tables are provided: a high-frequency table with NCP rates calculated from measurements of O2/Ar made continuously by an at-sea equilibrator inlet mass spectrometer (EIMS), and a low-frequency table with both NCP and GOP rates calculated for discrete samples measured post-cruise. The GOP rates were calculated from triple O2 isotopic (TOI) ratios. These data are derived from the EIMS and TOI data for the NES-LTER Transect cruises in EDI data package knb-lter-nes.6.3. 

This data package provides net community production (NCP) and gross oxygen production (GOP, a measure of gross primary production) for the winter and summer Northeast U.S. Shelf Long-Term Ecological Research (NES-LTER) Transect cruises in 2022. Two tables are provided: a high-frequency table with NCP rates calculated from measurements of O2/Ar made continuously by an at-sea equilibrator inlet mass spectrometer (EIMS), and a low-frequency table with both NCP and GOP rates calculated for discrete samples measured post-cruise. The GOP rates were calculated from triple O2 isotopic (TOI) ratios. These data are derived from the EIMS and TOI data for the NES-LTER Transect cruises in EDI data package knb-lter-nes.6.3. 

These data represent the abundance, biovolume, and biomass of prokaryotic phytoplankton, eukaryotic pico- and nano- phytoplankton, and heterotrophic bacteria from discrete flow cytometry samples collected during the Northeast U.S. Shelf Long-Term Ecological Research (NES-LTER) Transect cruises, ongoing since 2018. Samples were collected and preserved from the water column at multiple depths using Niskin bottles on a CTD rosette system along the NES-LTER transect, and analyzed post cruise. Cells were identified and enumerated from the flow cytometry data files based on their scattering, SYBR (525 nm), phycoerythrin (575 nm) and chlorophyll (680 nm) fluorescence signals. Gating was completed manually in the Attune NXT software interface.