Bacillariophyta | EPFL Graph Search

Les Bacillariophyta, ou Diatomées, sont un embranchement d'eucaryotes unicellulaires (de deux micromètres à un millimètre) présents dans tous les milieux aquatiques et majoritaires dans certains biofilms (avec une préférence pour les eaux froides) et enveloppés par un squelette externe siliceux nommé frustule. Les diatomées peuvent être libres ou fixées, et vivre isolées ou en colonie. Les formes pélagiques appartiennent au phytoplancton, les formes benthiques appartiennent au microphytobenthos. Les diatomées sont un constituant majeur du phytoplancton participant à 50 % de la production primaire océanique globale. Comme toute algue, la cellule d'une diatomée possède des chloroplastes pour sa photosynthèse. Les échanges avec le milieu extérieur se font au travers de nombreux orifices très fins qui traversent la frustule et qui sont disposés en lignes (droites ou courbes) ou en réseau, selon un motif propre à l'espèce. Ces ornementations sont ainsi utilisées pour la classification.

The role of mixing in controlling resource availability and phytoplankton community composition

Bieito Fernandez Castro, Emilio Marañón

We investigate the role of mixing, through its effect on nutrient and light availability, as a driver of phytoplankton community composition in the context of Margalef’s mandala. Data on microstructure turbulence, irradiance, new nitrogen supply and phytoplankton composition were collected at 102 stations in three contrasting marine environments: the Galician coastal upwelling system of the northwest Iberian Peninsula, the northwestern Mediterranean, and the tropical and subtropical Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. Photosynthetic pigments concentration and microscopic analysis allowed us to investigate the contribution of diatoms, dinoflagellates, pico- and nanoeukaryotes, and cyanobacteria to the phytoplankton community. Simple linear regression was used to assess the role of environmental factors on community composition, and environmental overlap among different phytoplankton groups was computed using nonparametric kernel density functions. Mixing and new nitrogen supply played an important role in controlling the phytoplankton community structure. At lower values of mixing and new nitrogen supply cyanobacteria dominated, pico- and nanoeukaryotes were dominant across a wide range of environmental conditions, and finally enhanced new nitrogen supply was favourable for diatoms and dinoflagellates. Dinoflagellates were prevalent at intermediate mixing levels, whereas diatoms spread across a wider range of mixing conditions. Occasional instances of enhanced diatom biomass were found under low mixing, associated with the high abundance of Hemiaulus hauckii co-occurring with high N2 fixation in subtropical regions, and with the formation of thin layers in the Galician coastal upwelling. Our results verify the Margalef’s mandala for the whole phytoplankton community, emphasizing the need to consider nutrient supply, rather than nutrient concentration, as an indicator of nutrient availability.

2019

Feeding behaviour of a benthic species (Ammonia tepida) under oxic and anoxic conditions: TEM-NanoSIMS correlation

Emmanuelle Geslin, Charlotte Madeleine Nicole Lekieffre, Anders Meibom

More and more marine areas are subjected to depleted-O2 concentration, mainly due to eutrophication induced by human activities. These phenomena affect benthic ecosystems, in particular continental shelves and coastal areas where the renewal of the bottom waters is low and/or the organic matter flux is high. Some species of benthic foraminifera are resistant to this hypoxic/anoxic events, surviving weeks to months without oxygen. One of the species known to survive to such extreme condition is the benthic one Ammonia tepida. However the metabolic process by which it succeed in it remains unknown. One hypothesis is that this species would be able to lower its metabolism under oxygen depleted conditions, until the return of better conditions. The aim of the present study is to understand the feeding behaviors of A. tepida under anoxia. For this purpose a laboratory experiment involving incubation with living A. tepida was carried out under controlled oxygen concentrations. The individuals were fed with a pulse of 13C-labeled diatoms (Navicula sp.) and then incubate in oxic or anoxic conditions during 28 days. Along the incubation time, observation of the cell ultrastructure with Transmission Electronic Microscope (TEM) and detection in the cell of the isotopic 13C signal using nanoSIMS, were made. The nanoSIMS (nanoscale Secondary-Ion Mass Spectrometry) is an analytical technique that allows to visualize the incorporation and transfer of isotopically labeled compounds in organisms; thus in our case to follow the ingestion of labeled-diatoms and further transfer of carbon in the cytoplasm of the foraminifera. According to the results acquired in this study, in both conditions the foraminifera directly integrate the diatoms in their cytoplasm during the first hours of the incubation. Then, in oxic conditions, these diatoms are quickly fully degraded, within 3 days, and the 13C-labeled compounds are transferred in the organelles of the cytoplasm. Whereas in anoxia, only a fraction of the diatoms are degraded and the transfer to the foraminifera cytoplasm is weak. These results are confirmed by the δ13C of the foraminifera, measured in bulk by mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In anoxia the δ13C is slightly increasing the first 24h, meaning that the 13C content of the cell increased, and then it remains stable until the end of the experiment. This leads us to assume that the foraminifera stop, or at least strongly lower their metabolic rate under anoxic condition.

2015

A benthic foraminifera species respond to anoxia with a strong metabolic shift suggesting a state of dormancy

Emmanuelle Geslin, Charlotte Madeleine Nicole Lekieffre, Anders Meibom

Low-oxygenation events are more and more frequent and strong on continental shelves and in coastal areas where renewal of bottom waters is slow. Among the meiofauna living in such environments, foraminifera are among the most tolerant to the lack of oxygen. Some benthic foraminiferal species are able to survive hypoxia, and even anoxia, for weeks to months. Different species must have developed different mechanisms for survival - hypotheses include reduction of the metabolism, symbiosis with bacteria, or denitrification. Ammonia tepida, one of the most abundant species in intertidal environments, is able to survive up to 60 days in anoxia. Here we combined a 4 week feeding experiment using 13C-enriched microalgae (diatoms), with correlated transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and NanoSIMS (Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry) imaging, and concentrations (GC/MS, GC/FFID), as well as bulk and compound specific carbon isotope ratios (13C/12C obtained by EA/IRMS and GC/C/IRMS) of individual fatty acids (FAs) to study the metabolic differences in intertidal Ammonia tepida exposed to oxic and anoxia conditions, respectively. Strongly contrasting cellular-level dynamics of integration and transfer of the ingested biofilm components were observed under the two conditions. Under oxic conditions, within a few days, intact diatoms (i.e. including the frustule) were ingested, assimilated and consumed, in part for biosynthesis of different cellular components: 13C-labeled lipid droplets formed over a timescale of a few days and were then partly lost through respiration. In contrast, in anoxia, fewer diatoms were initially ingested and these were not assimilated or metabolized further, but remained visible within the foraminiferal cytoplasm even after 4 weeks. The compound specific 13C/12C ratios indicated substantial de novo synthesis by the foraminifera of polyunsaturated FAs (PUFAs), such as 20:4(n-6), in oxic conditions; very limited PUFA synthesis was observed under anoxia. Together, our results indicate that anoxia induced a greatly reduced rate of heterotrophic metabolism in Ammonia tepida on a time scale of about 24 hours, which seems consistent with a state of dormancy.

2016

A benthic foraminifera species respond to anoxia with a strong metabolic shift suggesting a state of dormancy

Emmanuelle Geslin, Charlotte Madeleine Nicole Lekieffre, Anders Meibom

2016

Feeding behaviour of a benthic species (Ammonia tepida) under oxic and anoxic conditions: TEM-NanoSIMS correlation

Emmanuelle Geslin, Charlotte Madeleine Nicole Lekieffre, Anders Meibom

2015

The role of mixing in controlling resource availability and phytoplankton community composition

Bieito Fernandez Castro, Emilio Marañón

2019