Environmental characteristics of Agulhas rings affect interocean plankton transport

• DOI: 10.1126/science.1261447
• Publication Date: 2015-05-22T21:00:59Z
• Authors: Emilie Villar; Gregory K. Farrant; Michael Follows; Laurence Garczarek; Sabrina Speich; Stéphane Audic; Lucie Bittner; Bruno Blanke; Jennifer R. Brum; Christophe Brunet; Raffaella Casotti; Alison Chase; John R. Dolan; Fabrizio d’Ortenzio; Jean-Pierre Gattuso; Nicolas Grima; Lionel Guidi; Christopher N. Hill; Oliver Jahn; Jean-Louis Jamet; Hervé Le Goff; Cyrille Lepoivre; Shruti Malviya; Eric Pelletier; Jean-Baptiste Rom...; Simon Roux; Sébastien Santini; Eleonora Scalco; Sarah M. Schwenck; Atsuko Tanaka; Pierre Testor; Thomas Vannier; Flora Vincent; Adriana Zingone; Céline Dimier; Marc Picheral; Sarah Searson; Stefanie Kandels-...; ; Silvia G. Acinas; Peer Bork; Emmanuel Boss; Colomban de Vargas; Gabriel Gorsky; Hiroyuki Ogata; Stéphane Pesant; Matthew B. Sullivan; Shinichi Sunagawa; Patrick Wincker; Eric Karsenti; Chris Bowler; Fabrice Not; Pascal Hingamp; Daniele Iudicone
• Keywords: Biogeochemical Cycle

Agulhas rings provide the principal route for ocean waters to circulate from Indo-Pacific Atlantic basin. Their influence on global circulation is well known, but their role in plankton transport largely unexplored. We show that, although coarse taxonomic structure of communities continuous across choke point, South diversity altered compared with Indian Ocean source populations. Modeling and situ sampling a young ring indicate that strong vertical mixing drives complex nitrogen cycling, shaping community metabolism biogeochemical signatures as associated transit westward. The peculiar local environment inside may selective mechanism contributing limited dispersal populations into Atlantic.