Publication Date:
2022-09-19
Description:
The Hudson Bay complex (HBC) is home to numerous indigenous communities that traditionally have relied
heavily on its marine resources. The nutritional quality and stocks of the entire HBC food web depend in
large part on the phytoplankton production of bioactive molecules (long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids
and carotenoids) and their transfer through trophic levels. The purpose of this study was thus to
determine which molecules were produced during spring phytoplankton blooms, as well as the
environmental factors driving this production. We investigated 21 stations in 5 sub-regions of the HBC.
At the time of sampling, the sub-regions studied had different environmental settings (e.g., ice cover,
nutrients, seawater salinity and temperature) conditioning their bloom stages. Pre- and post-bloom stages
were associated with relatively low concentrations of bioactive molecules (either fatty acids or
carotenoids). In contrast, the highest concentrations of bioactive molecules (dominated by
eicosapentaenoic acid and fucoxanthin) were associated with the diatom bloom that typically occurs at
the ice edge when silicates remain available. Interestingly, the large riverine inputs in eastern Hudson Bay
led to a change in protist composition (larger contribution of Dinophyceae), resulting in lower while more
diverse content of bioactive molecules, whether fatty acids (e.g., aa-linolenic acid) or carotenoids
(e.g., peridinin). As greater stratification of the HBC is expected in the future, we suggest that
a mixotrophic/heterotrophic flagellate-based food web would become more prevalent, resulting in
a smaller supply of bioactive molecules for the food web.
Repository Name:
EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
Type:
Article
,
isiRev
Format:
application/pdf
Permalink