Abstract
The distribution and activity of bacterioplankton, and the turnover of dissolved organic matter (DOM) were examined in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. On the eastern side of the Sound, bacteria averaged 6.5×108 l-1, and turnover rates of dissolved adenosine triphosphate, D-glucose and l-leucine averaged 16, 116 and 124 h, respecitvely. These molecules as well as thymidine were taken up maximally from 0° to 5°C and near-maximally from -1.5° to 0°C, indicating bacterial adaptation to rapid turnover of dissolved organic matter at the ambient temperature. On the west side of the Sound, bacteria averaged only 0.65×108 l-1, and turnover times for adenosine triphosphate, D-glucose and lleucine averaged 59, 20454, and 3070 h, respectively. Total microbial adenosine triphosphate (an indicator of total microbial biomass) and chlorophyll a were also much lower at the western than at the eastern side stations. Moreover, no primary production could be detected at one western side station (New Harbor). Thus, in McMurdo Sound, the western side is highly oligotrophic, but the eastern side has an abundant active bacterioplankton, comparable to that of temperate coastal waters.
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Communicated by N. Holland, La Jolla
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Hodson, R.E., Azam, F., Carlucci, A.F. et al. Microbial uptake of dissolved organic matter in Mcmurdo Sound, Antarctica. Mar. Biol. 61, 89–94 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00386648
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00386648