Analyzing the Seasonality of Rhizaria at BATS

Rhizaria are a super diverse group of skeleton-bearing marine protists that are ubiquitous in the world’s oceans. Foraminifera and Radiolarians are two predominant lineages of Rhizaria found in the Sargasso Sea. Despite their importance to biogeochemical cycling and sinking particles in the ocean there are still limited studies of the seasonality of Rhizaria, especially from those areas where they are more abundant, the mid-ocean subtropical oligotrophic gyres, an environment representing 40% of the Earth's surface. Using zooSCAN image data from samples taken at the Bermuda Atlantic Time Study (BATS) site from March 2016 to May 2017, we found that Rhizaria size remains constant throughout the sampled period, while transparency shows significant change seasonally. The transparency of the images Rhizaria exhibits a bimodal distribution which distinguishes the denser, more opaque Foraminifera from the more transparent Radiolaria. The morphometric analyses allowed us to discriminate between these two groups, indicating a difference in the seasonality patterns for both groups, linked to the hydrographic conditions in the region.

Presentation Preference: Poster

Primary Presenter: Serena Aguilar, Arizona State University (sgaguil1@asu.edu)

Authors:

Serena Aguilar, Arizona State University  (sgaguil1@asu.edu)

Hannah Gossner, Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences  (hannah.gossner@bios.asu.edu)

Amy Maas, Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences  (Amy.Maas@asu.edu)

Leocadio Blanco Bercial, Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences  (leocadio@asu.edu)