Fig 1.
Location of sampled stations and superficial Chl a during the MedSeA cruise.
The superficial Chl a was obtained from satellite data (MODIS Aqua L2).
Table 1.
List of samples analyzed using SYRACO (a) and/or SEM (b).
Fig 2.
Calcification varieties of Emiliania huxleyi Type A.
The open central area is highlighted with a curved continuous line; the outer limit of the slits by a curved dotted line. TW = tube width (black bar), SL = slit length (white bar). The scale of 2 μm refers to the coccospheres, while the scale of 1 μm to the coccoliths.
Fig 3.
Vectors radiating from the center symbolize the environmental gradients; their length is proportional to the strength of the gradient. The blue dots are the centroids of E. huxleyi Type A and of its four calcification varieties. The coloured triangles represent individual samples, differentiated by marine province (blue = A-G, aquamarine = SW Med., red = SE Med.).
Table 2.
Correlations among morphological parameters: Coccolith mass (Ms), calcification index (Ci) and corrected length (Lc).
Table 3.
Correlations between morphological parameters, Type A coccospheres % (with respect to the total E. huxleyi coccospheres; N = 52) and calcification varieties % (with respect to the total Type A coccoliths; N = 35).
Table 4.
Environmental correlations of morphological parameters (N = 54), Type A coccospheres % (N = 52) and calcification varieties % (N = 35).
Fig 4.
Longitudinal distribution of Type A morphotypes, average Ms, Lc, Ci and Type A calcification varieties.
Data from the M84/3 and MedSeA cruises have been combined for each province presented in S2 Fig.
Fig 5.
Coccolith calcification index (Ci), mass (Ms) and corrected length (Lc) along the analyzed Mediterranean transect.
Fig 6.
Relationships between coccolith mass (Ms) and the percentages of A3b and A1.
The percentages were calculated in respect to the absolute abundance of E. huxleyi Type A coccoliths. The black line represents the linear regression between the pairs of variables.