Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2019

Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster E64

Mapping marine phytoplankton in Iceland using environmental DNA metabarcoding.

Höfundar / Authors: Mia Cerfonteyn (1,2,3), René Groben (1), Kristinn Guðmundsson (2), Pauline Vannier (1), Daniel Vaulot (4) and Viggó Þór Marteinsson (1,3)

Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: (1) Matís, Vinlandsleið 12, 113 Reykjavik, Iceland (2) Marine and Freshwater Research Institute, Skúlagata 4, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland (3) Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Iceland, Læknagarður, Vatnsmyrarvegur 16, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland (4) Station Biologique De Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680, Roscoff, France

Kynnir / Presenter: Mia Cerfonteyn

Iceland is at the centre of a contrasting hydrography, with cold Arctic water coming in from the north and warmer Atlantic water from the south. Marine micro-organisms play a crucial role in the food web and geochemical cycles, yet many questions remain regarding their dynamics in Icelandic waters. Novel molecular methods can contribute to existing knowledge of phytoplankton diversity by increasing sample throughput and a better characterization of small and morphologically similar taxa.
The aim of the “Microbes in the Icelandic Marine Environment (MIME)” project is to better understand the underlying mechanisms that control the marine food web surrounding Iceland. Seawater samples were collected for the different seasons: August 2017, February 2018 and May 2018. At each station seawater was sampled at several fixed depths from surface to bottom (n = 348) and metadata were collected for each sampling event (temperature, salinity and nutrients). Amplicon sequencing of the V4 region of the 18s rRNA gene shows a higher relative abundance and diversity of Chlorophyta picoplankton than previously estimated for this region by microscopy. This data also showed that eukaryotic phytoplankton community composition is different between the two water masses, particularly at the microdiversity level. This study demonstrates the potential of identifying indicator species for the different water masses which can help us understand the impact of climate change around Iceland.