Structure and Productivity of the Phytocenosis in the Southwestern Kara Sea in Early Spring

Abstract

Results of plankton biota studies in the southwestern Kara are presented. The spatial distribution of hydrochemical and hydrophysical parameters related to structural and functional characteristics of phytoplankton in the surface water is considered. The chlorophyll a concentration varied in the surface layer of the Kara Sea from 0.08 to 3.22 mg m^–3 (mean value 0.62 mg m^–3). Primary production varied from 0 to 1.92 mg C m^–3 day^–1 (the mean value of 0.42 mg C m^–3 day^–1) in the ice-covered water areas and was greater by a factor of four, ranging from 1.01 to 3.46 mg C m^–3 day^–1 (the mean value of 1.79 mg C m^–3 day^–1) in ice-free areas. In this case, the total algal biomass varied from 0.8 to 110.7 mg C m^–3 (mean value 10.6 mg C m^–3). It is shown that in the study period, waters from the western Kara Sea were more productive than the estuarine water areas of the Ob and Yenisei rivers. The activity of phototrophic phytoplankton in river waters was almost completely absent. It is established that the contents of nutrients and iron were higher than the threshold for limitation of phytoplankton development. The experiments showed that the production activity of phototrophic algae is restrained by light deficit beneath the ice.