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Science 12 May 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5775, pp. 918 - 921
DOI: 10.1126/science.1122692
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Reports

Oceanographic Basis of the Global Surface Distribution of Prochlorococcus Ecotypes

Heather A. Bouman,1* Osvaldo Ulloa,1 David J. Scanlan,3 Katrin Zwirglmaier,3 William K. W. Li,4 Trevor Platt,4 Venetia Stuart,5 Ray Barlow,6 Ole Leth,2 Lesley Clementson,7 Vivian Lutz,8 Masao Fukasawa,9 Shuichi Watanabe,9 Shubha Sathyendranath5

By using data collected during a continuous circumnavigation of the Southern Hemisphere, we observed clear patterns in the population-genetic structure of Prochlorococcus, the most abundant photosynthetic organism on Earth, between and within the three Southern Subtropical Gyres. The same mechanisms that were previously invoked to account for the vertical distribution of ecotypes at local scales accounted for the global (horizontal) patterns we observed. Basin-scale and seasonal variations in the structure and strength of vertical stratification provide a basis for understanding large-scale horizontal distribution in genetic and physiological traits of Prochlorococcus, and perhaps of marine microbial communities in general.

1 Laboratorio de Procesos Oceanográficos y Clima, Departamento de Oceanografía, and Centro de Investigación Oceanográfica en el Pacífico Sur-Oriental, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile.
2 Departamento de Geofísica, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile.
3 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
4 Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, B2Y 4A2, Canada.
5 Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 4J1, Canada.
6 Marine and Coastal Management, Private Bag X2, Rogge Bay 8012, Cape Town, South Africa.
7 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Marine Research, Post Office Box 1538, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 7001.
8 Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo Pesquero, Paseo Victoria Ocampo 1, 7600 Mar del Plata, Argentina.
9 Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, 2-15, Natsushima, Yokosuka, 237-0061, Japan.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: heather{at}profc.udec.cl

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Emergent Biogeography of Microbial Communities in a Model Ocean.
M. J. Follows, S. Dutkiewicz, S. Grant, and S. W. Chisholm (2007)
Science 315, 1843-1846
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)