Phytoplankton community responses to the combined effects of internal waves and anticyclonic eddies shed from the Kuroshio intrusion

Abstract

The anticyclonic eddies (ACEs) shed from the Kuroshio intrusion often interact with internal waves (IWs). Those interactions are complex but play an important role in the biogeochemical effects in the northern South China Sea (SCS). However, previous studies on these interactions have mainly focused on physical processes, while biological responses to their interactions have been unclear. In this study, results of two field cruises with focus on two sets of high-frequency time-series observations over the continental slope of the SCS during the summers of 2016 and 2017 revealed that phytoplankton in the euphotic zone were affected by both IWs and ACEs shed from the Kuroshio Current. Distinct surface distributions of phytoplankton were attributable to different sources of the water, Kuroshio intrusions and the plume from the Pearl River. However, similarities of phytoplankton biomass and community composition in the subsurface chlorophyll maximum layer in both years could be explained by the similar upward transport of nutrients induced by combinations of small-amplitude IWs and mature ACEs in 2016 and large-amplitude IWs in 2017. The distinct vertical distributions of the phytoplankton community in both years were attributable to the different responses of phytoplankton groups to the direct effects of isopycnal uplifting, bottom-up controls, and top-down controls. Our results showed that the ecological effects of the interactions between IWs and ACEs shed from the Kuroshio water were complex, and those complex effects further influenced the structure of this marginal sea ecosystem.