Bacterioplankton: A Sink for Carbon in a Coastal Marine Plankton Community

Recent determinations of high production rates (up to 30 percent 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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1986-05, Vol.232 (4752), p.865-867
Main Authors: Ducklow, Hugh W., Purdie, Duncan A., Peter J. Le B. Williams, Davies, John M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Bacteria
Bacteria, Heterotrophic
Bacterioplankton
Biological and medical sciences
Carbon
Carbon cycle
Carbon cycle (Biogeochemistry)
Diet & nutrition
Food chain
Food supply
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Heterotrophic bacteria
Marine bacteria
Marine biology
Marine ecosystems
Microbial ecology
Particulate matter
Plankton
Plankton research
Product labeling
Radioactive decay
Sediments
Various environments (extraatmospheric space, air, water)
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Summary:Recent determinations of high production rates (up to 30 percent 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 percent 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 percent 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.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.232.4752.865