Phytoplankton communities in upwelling areas. The example of NW Africa

Abstract

[EN] Many tables reporting the composition of phytoplankton in different marine areas have been published. Their value is not only taxonomic and biogeographical. Presence and abundance of organisms of different species reflects the results of historical and dynamical processes, in which a great number of factors and interactions are involved. Lists of plankton contain much information, but more often than not wt are unable to decode it. Any information has a price, and no wonder that we are reluctant to invest much effort in training and employing taqxonomists, if we cannot properly place plankton composition at the end of a coherent and ingelligible chain of events. […] Skeletonema, Thalassiosira, Nitzschia, Ceratium furca, Gonyaulax, Oxytoxum, Peridinium, Nitzschia seriata, Nitzschia delicatissima. N. fraudulenta, N. subfraudulenta, Nitzschia closterium, recta, longissima, Oscillatoria, Oxytoxum variabile, Gyroclinium fusiforme, Amphidinium acutum, Gyroclinium spirale, Noctiluca scintillans, Thalassiosira partheneia, Phaeocystis, Chaeíoceros, socialis, radians, Gomphonema olivaceum, Phaeocystis, Ruttnera, Rhizosolenia, Hemiaulus, Asterionella glacialis, Amphora hyalina, Leptocylindrus, Thalassiosira rotula, Lauderia, Eucampia, Bacteriastrum, Thalassionema, Dinophysis, Exuviaella, Cyclotella, Coscinodiscus, Mesodinium, Brachydinium capitatum, Prorocentrum rostratum, Ceratium kofoidii, Plankíoniella sol, Thalassionema nitzschioides, Rhizosolenia shrubsolei, Rhizosolenia stolterfothi, Rhizosolenia delicatura, Asterionella mediterranea, Thalassiothrix longissima, Eucampia cornuta, Stauroneis membranacea, Actinocyclus subtilis, Ceratium minutum, Dinoflagellata, Oscillatoria thiebautii, Rhizosolenia hebetata, Exuviaella baltica, Leucocryptos marina, Cryptomonas, Discosphaera tubifer, Helicosphaera, Cyclococcolithus, Coccolithus (Emiliania) huxleyi [...]

[ES] Las áreas de afloramiento del Norte y Sur de África, California y Perú nos presentan por cuadruplicado un fenómeno que es sustancialmente el mismo. El estudio comparado de dichas regiones puede resultar extraordinariamente útil, y un aspecto del mismo es la descripción de las respectivas comunidades. La presencia y la distribución de las distintas especies refleja la heterogeneidad de cada región de afloramiento. Pero los datos que se poseen son pocos y su comparación es difícil. Debería revalorizarse el estudio de la taxonomía y distribución del fitoplancton. [...]