Bacterioplankton secondary production estimates for coastal waters of British Columbia, Antarctica, and California

Journal Article · Sun Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1980 · Appl. Environ. Microbiol.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5158616

Fuhrman, J A; Azam, F

The principal obtective of this study was to quantify the rate of heterotrophic bacterioplankton production. Production was estimated by two approaches: (i) measurement of increasing bacterial abundance with time in filtered (3-..mu..m pore size) seawater and (ii) estimation of bacterial deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis by tritiated thymidine incorporation in unfractionated seawater. The two approaches yielded comparable results when used at the Controlled Ecosystem Population Experiment (Saanich Inlet, British Columbia, Canada), at McMurdo Sound (Antarctica), and off Scripps Pier (La Jolla, Calif.). Estimated bacterioplankton production was lower in Antarctic samples (ranging from approx. 0 to 2.9 ..mu..g of C liter/sup -1/ day/sup -1/) than in those from the other two sites (ranging from 0.7 to 71 ..mu..g of C liter/sup -1/ day/sup -1/). In all three regions studied, it appeared that a significant fraction of the total primary production was utilized by the bacterioplankton and that substantial growth could occur in the absence of large particles. These results support the conclusion that bacterioplankton are a quantitatively important component of coastal marine food webs.

• Research Organization: Univ. of California, San Diego, La Jolla
• OSTI ID: 5158616
• Journal Information: Appl. Environ. Microbiol.; (United States), Journal Name: Appl. Environ. Microbiol.; (United States) Vol. 39:6; ISSN AEMID
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

520100* -- Environment
Aquatic-- Basic Studies-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
550701 -- Microbiology-- Tracer Techniques
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
ANTARCTIC REGIONS
ANTARCTICA
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
AZINES
BACTERIA
BIOSYNTHESIS
BRITISH COLUMBIA
CALIFORNIA
CANADA
COASTAL WATERS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DNA
ECOSYSTEMS
FOOD CHAINS
HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
LABELLED COMPOUNDS
MICROORGANISMS
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEIC ACIDS
NUCLEOSIDES
NUCLEOTIDES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYTOPLANKTON
PLANKTON
POLAR REGIONS
PRODUCTIVITY
PYRIMIDINES
RIBOSIDES
SEAWATER
SURFACE WATERS
SYNTHESIS
THYMIDINE
USA
WATER
WESTERN REGION