Annual phytoplankton succession results from niche-environment interaction

Annual plankton succession has been investigated for many decades and hypotheses ranging from abiotic to biotic mechanisms have been proposed to explain this recurrent pattern. Here, using data collected by the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey and models originating from the MacroEcological Theory on the Arrangement of Life (METAL), we investigate annual phytoplankton succession in the North Sea at a species level. Our results show that this phenomenon can be well predicted by models combining photosynthetically active radiation, temperature and macro-nutrients. Our findings suggest that annual phytoplankton succession, at community level, originates from the interaction between species ecological niche and annual environmental fluctuations. We discuss our results in the context of traditional hypotheses formulated to explain this recurrent pattern in the marine field, including those on the initiation, the development and the termination of a typical extratropical spring bloom