Microbial Processing of Jellyfish Detritus in the Ocean
- Author(s)
- Tinkara Tinta, Zihao Zhao, Alvaro Escobar, Katja Klun, Barbara Bayer, Chie Amano, Luca Bamonti, Gerhard J Herndl
- Abstract
When jellyfish blooms decay, sinking jellyfish detrital organic matter (jelly-OM), rich in proteins and characterized by a low C:N ratio, becomes a significant source of OM for marine microorganisms. Yet, the key players and the process of microbial jelly-OM degradation and the consequences for marine ecosystems remain unclear. We simulated the scenario potentially experienced by the coastal pelagic microbiome after the decay of a bloom of the cosmopolitan Aurelia aurita s.l. We show that about half of the jelly-OM is instantly available as dissolved organic matter and thus, exclusively and readily accessible to microbes. During a typical decay of an A. aurita bloom in the northern Adriatic Sea about 100 mg of jelly-OM L-1 becomes available, about 44 μmol L-1 as dissolved organic carbon (DOC), 13 μmol L-1 as total dissolved nitrogen, 11 μmol L-1 of total hydrolyzable dissolved amino acids (THDAA) and 0.6 μmol L-1 PO43-. The labile jelly-OM was degraded within 1.5 days (>98% of proteins, ∼70% of THDAA, 97% of dissolved free amino acids and the entire jelly-DOC pool) by a consortium of Pseudoalteromonas, Alteromonas, and Vibrio. These bacteria accounted for >90% of all metabolically active jelly-OM degraders, exhibiting high bacterial growth efficiencies. This implies that a major fraction of the detrital jelly-OM is rapidly incorporated into biomass by opportunistic bacteria. Microbial processing of jelly-OM resulted in the accumulation of tryptophan, dissolved combined amino acids and inorganic nutrients, with possible implications for biogeochemical cycles.
- Organisation(s)
- Functional and Evolutionary Ecology
- External organisation(s)
- HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, University of Vienna, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, National Institute of Biology
- Journal
- Frontiers in Microbiology
- Volume
- 11
- No. of pages
- 18
- ISSN
- 1664-302X
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.590995
- Publication date
- 10-2020
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 106021 Marine biology
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Microbiology (medical), Microbiology
- Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 14 - Life Below Water
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/4020c426-8314-4b94-bbcb-b5ad9b38328a