Climate change is associated with higher phytoplankton biomass and longer blooms in the West Antarctic Peninsula.

The Antarctic Peninsula (West Antarctica) marine ecosystem has undergone substantial changes due to climate-induced shifts in atmospheric and oceanic temperatures since the 1950s. Using 25 years of satellite data (1998-2022), this study presents evidence that phytoplankton biomass and bloom phenology in the West Antarctic Peninsula are significantly changing as a response to anthropogenic climate change. Enhanced phytoplankton biomass was observed along the West Antarctic Peninsula, particularly in the early austral autumn, resulting in longer blooms.

A review on the diversity and distribution of athecate dinoflagellates in South Atlantic and in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean: Research insights and gaps.

This review summarizes the state of knowledge on athecate dinoflagellates occurring within the South Atlantic Ocean and Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. We compiled data from 105 articles and selected 33 addressing any aspect of athecate dinoflagellate studies. Our aim is to discuss the patterns in athecate dinoflagellate distribution by building a thorough species list and an occurrence map based on species recorded in coastal and oceanic waters.

Physical-biological drivers modulating phytoplankton seasonal succession along the Northern Antarctic Peninsula.

The Northern Antarctic Peninsula (NAP) shows shifts in phytoplankton distribution and composition along its warming marine ecosystems. However, despite recent efforts to mechanistically understand these changes, little focus has been given to the phytoplankton seasonal succession, remaining uncertainties regarding to distribution patterns of emerging taxa along the NAP. To fill this gap, we collected phytoplankton (pigment and microscopy analysis) and physico-chemical datasets during spring and summer (November, February and March) of 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 off the NAP.

Cryptophytes: An emerging algal group in the rapidly changing Antarctic Peninsula marine environments.

The western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is a climatically sensitive region where foundational changes at the basis of the food web have been recorded; cryptophytes are gradually outgrowing diatoms together with a decreased size spectrum of the phytoplankton community. Based on a 11-year (2008-2018) in-situ dataset, we demonstrate a strong coupling between biomass accumulation of cryptophytes, summer upper ocean stability, and the mixed layer depth. Our results shed light on the environmental conditions favoring the cryptophyte success in coastal regions of the WAP, especially during situations of shallower mixed layers associated with lower diatom biomass, which evidences a clear competition or niche segregation between diatoms and cryptophytes.

Chemotaxonomic characterization of the key genera of diatoms in the Northern Antarctic Peninsula.

Diatoms are successful in occupying a wide range of ecological niches and biomes along the global ocean. Although there is a recognized importance of diatoms for the Southern Ocean ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles, the current knowledge on their ecology and distribution along the impacted Antarctic coastal regions remains generalized at best. HPLC-CHEMTAX approaches have been extensively used to this purpose, providing valuable information about the whole phytoplankton community, even for those small-size species which are normally difficult to identify by light microscopy.

Effects of different culture media on physiological features and laboratory scale production cost of .

Microalgal cultivation system depends on optimal parameters obtained from laboratory conditions to overcome high-value compounds production and decrease cost. In this study, the laboratory-scale cultivation of was performed to explore the cost and biochemical effects on biomass cultivated using F/2, Conway, and Johnson media. cultivation was monitored by cell counting, dry biomass measurements and biochemical analyses.

The impact of mesoscale eddies on the phytoplankton community in the South Atlantic Ocean: HPLC-CHEMTAX approach.

This study describes the pigment-based phytoplankton community within three South Atlantic anticyclonic eddies (at different ages) shed from the Agulhas Current retroflection crossing the South Atlantic Ocean. Seawater samples were collected over these mesoscale structures in June-July 2015 during the Following Ocean Rings in the South Atlantic (FORSA) cruise. Data on phytoplankton pigments, measured with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), were processed using a chemical taxonomy (CHEMTAX) tool to determine and quantify phytoplankton taxonomic groups.

Taxonomy, phylogeny and ecology of cultivable fungi present in seawater gradients across the Northern Antarctica Peninsula.

Thirty-six seawater samples collected at different depths of the Gerlache and Bransfield Straits in the Northern Antarctic Peninsula were analyzed, and the average of the total fungal counts ranged from 0.3 to >300 colony forming units per liter (CFU/L) in density. The fungal were purified and identified as 15 taxa belonged to the genera Acremonium, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Cystobasidium, Exophiala, Glaciozyma, Graphium, Lecanicillium, Metschnikowia, Penicillium, Purpureocillium and Simplicillium.