Iron and temperature interactive effects on diatoms and Phaeocystis antarctica from the Ross Sea, Antarctica

Future temperature and iron availability is predicted to change in the most biologically productive regions of the Southern Ocean, the coastal polynyas of Antarctica. We examined the individual and combined effects of iron addition (+500 nM) and temperature increases (4°C) on Phaeocystis antarctica and several dominant diatom species isolated from McMurdo Sound in the Ross Sea. Iron addition increased growth, carbon fixation, and iron uptake rates, cellular carbon quotas, and cell size of almost all tested species. Temperature increase only affected some species, and in particular had negative effects on P. antarctica growth. Concurrent increases in temperature and iron synergistically stimulated the growth rates of some diatom species, particularly Pseudo-nitzschia subcurvata. The diversity of their responses to iron and temperature may help to explain the current spatial and temporal distributions of diatoms and prymnesiophytes in the Ross Sea. In the future, potential temperature and iron increases may act together to shift the composition of the phytoplankton community in this biologically and biogeochemically important Southern Ocean polynya region.