Bacterioplankton: a sink for carbon in a coastal marine plankton community

Journal Article · Fri May 16 04:00:00 EDT 1986 · Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.232.4752.865· OSTI ID:5327852

Ducklow, H W; Purdie, D A; Williams, P J.LeB.; Davis, J M

Recent determinations of high production rates (up to 30% of primary production in surface waters) implicate free-living marine bacterioplankton as a link in a microbial loop that supplements phytoplankton as food for herbivores. An enclosed water column of 300 cubic meters was used to test the microbial loop hypothesis by following the fate of carbon-14-labeled bacterioplankton for over 50 days. Only 2% of the label initially fixed from carbon-14-labeled glucose by bacteria was present in larger organisms after 13 days, at which time about 20% of the total label added remained in the particulate fraction. Most of the label appeared to pass directly from particles smaller than 1 micrometer (heterotrophic bacterioplankton and some bacteriovores) to respired labeled carbon dioxide or to regenerated dissolved organic carbon-14. Secondary (and, by implication, primary) production by organisms smaller than 1 micrometer may not be an important food source in marine food chains. Bacterioplankton can be a sink for carbon in planktonic food webs and may serve principally as agents of nutrient regeneration rather than as food.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Maryland, Cambridge
• OSTI ID: 5327852
• Journal Information: Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States), Journal Name: Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States) Vol. 235; ISSN SCIEA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
BACTERIA
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS
CARBON
CARBON 14
CARBON ISOTOPES
ECOSYSTEMS
ELEMENTS
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FUNCTIONS
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MICROORGANISMS
MINERAL CYCLING
NONMETALS
NUCLEI
NUTRIENTS
RADIOISOTOPES
SINKS
TRACER TECHNIQUES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES