Here you can see two different groups of phytoplankton—diatoms and haptophytes—segregating out along a transect based on temperature and water mass. The relative abundance of diatoms at depth is interesting as well and may indicate sinking of diatom cells, e.g. from sea ice communities or benthic diatom communities, which we also know exist here. Collaborators are looking at benthic chlorophyll concentrations, so that should help answer that question. The dinoflagellates, which are often mixotrophic, are pretty evenly distributed throughout.
Phytoplankton Distributions
Image courtesy of the Mapping the Uncharted Diversity of Arctic Marine Microbes expedition. Download larger version (jpg, 478 KB).

Here you can see two different groups of phytoplankton—diatoms and haptophytes—segregating out along a transect based on temperature and water mass. The relative abundance of diatoms at depth is interesting as well and may indicate sinking of diatom cells, e.g. from sea ice communities or benthic diatom communities, which we also know exist here. Collaborators are looking at benthic chlorophyll concentrations, so that should help answer that question. The dinoflagellates, which are often mixotrophic, are pretty evenly distributed throughout.

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