Production of exopolymer particles by marine bacterioplankton under contrasting turbulence conditions
- Author(s)
- Karen E. Stoderegger, Gerhard J. Herndl
- Abstract
It has recently been shown that marine bacterioplankton release copious amounts of capsular material as 'semi-labile' to 'refractory' dissolved organic carbon (DOC) into the ambient water. The fate of this bacterioplankton-derived DOC remains largely unknown. Here we investigate the capability of this bacterial-derived capsular DOC to coagulate to exopolymer particles under contrasting turbulence regimes. Under high turbulence, fewer but larger particles (> 2 μm in diameter) were detected, while the total exopolymer particle-mass (>0.2 μm) was higher under stagnant conditions. Under stagnant conditions most of the bacterial-derived particles remained in the size-class between 0.2 and 2 μm. The production rate of exopolymer particles was estimated to amount to about 4 amol C cell-1 h-1, representing about 25% of the previously estimated bacterioplankton DOC release of about 15 amol C cell-1 h-1. Considering that bacterioplankton represent the largest living surface in the ocean, the release and subsequent coagulation of bacterioplankton-derived capsular DOC might be an important, thus far largely neglected mechanism of exopolymer particle formation in the ocean.
- Organisation(s)
- Functional and Evolutionary Ecology
- External organisation(s)
- Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
- Journal
- Marine Ecology Progress Series
- Volume
- 189
- Pages
- 9-16
- No. of pages
- 8
- ISSN
- 0171-8630
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3354/meps189009
- Publication date
- 11-1999
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 106021 Marine biology
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Aquatic Science, Ecology
- Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 14 - Life Below Water
- Portal url
- https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/production-of-exopolymer-particles-by-marine-bacterioplankton-under-contrasting-turbulence-conditions(ddbe229b-b2a9-4972-a952-9083fde6b7d5).html