Table 4.
Surface values of environmental parameters used in BVSTEP analysis.
| Station | Sea surface temperature (ITS-90) | Salinity (PSS-78) | Fluorescence (RFU) | Dissolved Fe (nM) | Bottom depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 9.45 | 30.6 | 4.06 | 1.30 | 209 |
| 5 | 10.1 | 30.1 | 4.03 | 1.30 | 209 |
| 7 | 8.45 | 31.9 | 1.17 | 1.45 | 2260 |
| 9 | 8.89 | 32.1 | 1.56 | 0.30 | 2610 |
| 10 | 8.61 | 32.2 | 1.49 | 0.14 | 2668 |
| 11 | 8.47 | 32.1 | 0.27 | 0.16 | 2692 |
| 12 | 8.53 | 32.1 | 0.45 | 0.17 | 2906 |
| 13 | 8.84 | 32.2 | 1.00 | 0.16 | 3005 |
| 14 | 8.55 | 32.2 | 0.41 | 0.13 | 3191 |
| 15 | 8.49 | 32.2 | 0.18 | 0.12 | 3379 |
| 17 | 8.59 | 32.1 | 0.13 | 0.16 | 2692 |
| 19 | 6.34 | 32.6 | 0.65 | 0.08 | 4226 |
| 25 | 6.49 | 32.6 | 0.50 | 0.08 | 4226 |
| 26 | 8.85 | 31.8 | 2.28 | 1.64 | 352 |
| 27 | 9.42 | 32.1 | 1.93 | 1.73 | 768 |
| 28 | 9.60 | 32.1 | 0.94 | 1.68 | 1547 |
| 29 | 11.7 | 30.7 | 0.70 | 1.40 | 252 |
| 30 | 10.2 | 31.7 | 1.02 | 1.59 | 2138 |
| 31 | 10.2 | 32.0 | 1.56 | 1.76 | 907 |
| 32 | 9.59 | 32.1 | 1.18 | 0.30 | 2926 |
| 33 | 9.45 | 32.2 | 1.26 | 0.12 | 2608 |
| 34 | 9.37 | 32.1 | 0.28 | 0.11 | 2691 |
Dissolved Fe values from station 7 (as CSJ), station 11 (as EC), station 15 (as O2), and station 19 (as OSP) were previously published in Xiu et al. (2011). The strongest correlation between ARISA Bray–Curtis similarity values and environmental variables was achieved by a combination of temperature, fluorescence, and dissolved Fe (ρs = 0.66).