Modern distribution of dinocysts from the North Pacific Ocean (37–64°N, 144°E–148°W) in relation to hydrographic conditions, sea-ice and productivity
Highlights
► Distribution of dinocysts in the North Pacific Ocean, integration of deep-sea sites. ► Overview of the high taxonomic diversity. ► New morphotype similar to P. reticulata (P. reticulata Okhotsk morphotype). ► Temperature as a key variable in dinocyst distribution. ► Validations of transfer functions (all environmental parameters well reconstructed).
Introduction
Organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts (dinocysts) are commonly used as a proxy for environmental conditions in the upper water column. It is now well established that their modern distribution is determined by hydrographic parameters such as temperature, salinity and the seasonal duration and extent of the sea-ice cover (e.g., Williams, 1977, Harland, 1988, de Vernal et al., 1994, de Vernal et al., 1997, de Vernal et al., 2001, de Vernal et al., 2005, Rochon et al., 1999). The distribution of dinocysts seems also related to productivity and nutrient availability (e.g., Radi and de Vernal, 2008). Although only 10 to 20% of dinoflagellate species produce fossilizable cysts during their life cycle, dinocyst assemblages can be used as a proxy for sea-surface conditions in which dinoflagellate populations developed (Taylor and Pollingher, 1987, Fensome et al., 1993, Fensome et al., 1996). Contrary to siliceous and calcareous microfossils like diatoms, radiolarians, coccolithophorids and foraminifera, dinocysts that are formed by a highly resistant organic matter (dinosporin) are not affected by dissolution (Dale, 1976, Harland, 1988, Kokinos et al., 1998, Versteegh and Blokker, 2004). Nonetheless, even if dinocysts are usually well preserved in marine sediment, it has been demonstrated that some taxa are sensitive to oxidation (Zonneveld et al., 2008, Zonneveld et al., 2010).
Dinocyst assemblages constitute a useful proxy for the reconstruction of past sea-surface conditions like temperature, salinity, seasonality, sea-ice cover, and primary productivity (e.g., de Vernal et al., 1994, de Vernal et al., 1997, de Vernal et al., 2005, Radi and de Vernal, 2008). Quantitative paleoceanographic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions from transfer functions require large databases representative of diverse environmental conditions (e.g., de Vernal et al., 2005).
Most studies conducted on recent dinocyst assemblages, for the development of a reference database, focused on the North Atlantic Ocean (e.g., de Vernal et al., 1994, Rochon et al., 1999) and the marginal Arctic and subarctic seas (e.g., Rochon and de Vernal, 1994, Matthiessen, 1995, Grøsfjeld and Harland, 2001, Kunz-Pirrung, 2001, Mudie and Rochon, 2001, Radi et al., 2001, Voronina et al., 2001, Hamel et al., 2002, Novichkova and Polyakova, 2007, Richerol et al., 2008, Grøsfjeld et al., 2009, Solignac et al., 2009, Bonnet et al., 2010). A few were performed off the northwest coast of Africa (Marret, 1994, Targarona et al., 1999, Bouimetarhan et al., 2009) and off the northeast coast of Brazil (Vink et al., 2000). However, unlike the Atlantic–Arctic regions, the North Pacific Ocean is still poorly documented. Some works were conducted on dinocysts from the western Pacific notably along the north and west coasts of Japan (Matsuoka, 1985, Matsuoka, 1987, Kobayashi et al., 1986, Furio et al., 2006), off Korea (Shin et al., 2007, Pospelova and Kim, 2010), in the Philippine Sea (Matsuoka, 1981) and in the Yellow and China Seas (Cho and Matsuoka, 2001, Kawamura, 2004, Wang et al., 2004). Few researches were carried out in the Okhotsk Sea (Miyazono and Minoda, 1990, Selina and Morozova, 2005, Hoppenrath and Selina, 2006, Selina and Orlova, 2009) but they focused on dinoflagellates from the water column and did not document the distribution of dinocysts in marine sediments. There are few other ones about the distribution of dinocyst assemblages off the American and Mexican coasts (16–60°N) in relation with sea-surface salinities and temperatures, upwelling intensity, productivity as well as geochemical parameters such as organic carbon, nitrogen and opal (Radi and de Vernal, 2004, Radi et al., 2007, Pospelova et al., 2008, Vásquez-Bedoya et al., 2008, Krepakevich and Pospelova, 2010, Limoges et al., 2010). The subarctic domain including the Bering Sea was explored by Radi et al. (2001) who documented the modern distribution of dinocysts. Finally, it is relevant to mention that some studies were undertaken in the Southern Hemisphere: the South Atlantic Ocean, off the southwest coast of Africa (Zonneveld et al., 2001, Holzwarth et al., 2007), off the east coast of New Zealand (McMinn and Sun, 1994, Sun and McMinn, 1994, Crouch et al., 2010), off the Chilean coast (Verleye and Louwye, 2010) and in the Southern Ocean (Marret and de Vernal, 1997, Esper and Zonneveld, 2002, Esper and Zonneveld, 2007).
Here, we report on the distribution of dinocyst assemblages from 53 surface sediment samples collected in the northern North Pacific Ocean, including the Okhotsk and Bering Seas (Fig. 1 and Table 1). Sampling sites encompass areas from temperate to subpolar regions and are located from Asian to American coasts (i.e., 37–64°N, 144°E–148°W). We aim at providing an overview of dinocyst taxonomic diversity in the northern North Pacific Ocean and documenting the relationships between the species and sea-surface conditions to North Pacific surface water masses and/or currents. The ultimate objective of this work is to update the North Pacific Ocean database and the Northern Hemisphere reference database for further paleoceanographic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions like in the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.
Section snippets
Atmospheric circulation
Thermodynamic properties of upper water masses in the North Pacific region are determined by the Pacific/North American pattern (PNAP), Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) and Aleutian low (AL). The PNAP was defined by Wallace and Gutzler (1981) as a linear relation of the normalized height anomalies at four centers located near Hawaii (20°N 160°W), over the North Pacific (45°N 165°W), over Alberta (55°N 115°W) and over the Gulf of Mexico (30°N 85°W). Developed by Hare, 1996, Zhang, 1996, the PDO
Sampling and palynological treatments
The 53 surface sediment samples analyzed in this study were collected with a multi-corer, mini-corer or box-corer during expeditions of the CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier (2007), R/V Akademik Lavrentyev (Biebow and Hutten, 1999), R/V Marshal Gelovany (Biebow et al., 2000) and R/V Sonne (Gersonde and SO-202-INOPEX participants, 2010; Table 1; Fig. 1). The surface sediment (0–1 cm) is generally considered to represent recent sedimentation although it may cover the last 101 to 103 years depending upon the
Dinocyst concentrations and assemblages
Dinocyst concentrations of the 53 surface sediment samples analyzed are highly variable. They range from 18 to 143 816 cysts/cm3 with a mean of 6443 cysts/cm3. The lowest values correspond to sites located in the open oceanic realm whereas the highest ones are recorded in coastal and neritic areas (Fig. 3 and Appendix A).
Dinocyst assemblages include 19 cysts produced by autotrophic dinoflagellates and 13 by heterotrophic ones. The occurrence of many taxa is occasional and only 15 taxa were counted
Taphonomic processes
Amongst the numerous taphonomic processes that can affect dinocysts, preservation (i.e., oxidation) and transport (i.e., direction and strength of oceanic currents) constitute the most significant parameters in the marine environment. Apart from cyst production, which is highly variable from area-to-area and year-to-year, assemblages in surface sediments depend also upon sedimentary processes.
Conclusion
This study fills the gap in the dinocyst distribution from the North Pacific realm and particularly, by integrating deep-sea sites. The analyses of the 53 surface sediment samples provide an overview of the high taxonomic diversity in the North Pacific Ocean compared to the North Atlantic. Furthermore, this work improves our knowledge on the ecological range of certain taxa such as Impagidinium spp., E. granulatum, and notably those that were presumed to be restricted to the Southern Ocean
Acknowledgments
This study is a contribution to the international INOPEX (Innovative NOrth Pacific EXperiment) project funded by the German Ministry of Education and Science (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung) and led by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (Bremerhaven, Germany). This is also a Past4Future contribution n°15. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no
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