First Account of Parmales (Chrysophyceae) in Sediment Trap Samples from the Alfonso Basin, Gulf of California, Mexico

ABSTRACT Rochin-Banaga, H.; Bollmann, J.; Cortes, M.Y., and Aguirre-Bahena, F., 2017. First account of Parmales (Chrysophyceae) in sediment trap samples from the Alfonso Basin, Gulf of California, Mexico. The flux of Parmales was analyzed from samples collected by a sediment trap deployed at 300 m depth in Alfonso Basin, Bay of La Paz. Twelve time-series samples were collected from September 2011 to September 2012 with a monthly resolution. Tetraparma insecta was the only species identified in this study. Its total fluxes varied considerably, with a minimum flux of 1 × 106 individuals m−2 d−1 in spring-summer and maximum flux of 66 × 106 individuals m−2 d−1 in autumn. The maximum flux was associated with warm water conditions (28°C). The observation of T. insecta in sediment traps suggests that this species might also be preserved in the sediment record at the Alfonso Basin.