Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T02:23:07.126Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Bacterial response to a weak 2006 El Niño condition in an upwelling area of the Humboldt Current System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2012

Marcelo Fuentes ,
Rubén Escribano  and
L. Antonio Cuevas
Marcelo Fuentes*
Affiliation:
Center for Oceanographic Research in the Eastern South Pacific (COPAS)
Rubén Escribano
Affiliation:
Center for Oceanographic Research in the Eastern South Pacific (COPAS) Department of Oceanography, Marine Biology Station at Dichato, University of Concepción, Chile
L. Antonio Cuevas
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Bergen, Jahnebakken 5, N-5020 Bergen, Norway
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: M. Fuentes, Center for Oceanographic Research in the Eastern South Pacific (COPAS) email: marcelfu@udec.cl
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Abundance and production of the pelagic heterotrophic bacteria community were studied at northern Chile during winter and summer periods of 2006–2007 in relation to seasonal changes in physical and chemical variables, including the influence of a weak El Niño event. Bacterial abundance was estimated by flow cytometry and secondary bacterial production by protein synthesis after bacterial uptake of 14C-isoleucine. Bacterial biomass showed high values in the range of 2.84 at 96.6 µ g C l−1d−1 with a bacterial growth efficiency (BGE) of 37.4% in the summer of 2007, and 2.7% in the winter of 2006. High amounts of C (~1.2 to 1.8 g C m−2 d−1) were used for bacterial respiration in the upper 20 m. Environmental impact on bacterial abundance and BGE was reflected in a positive correlation with phytoplankton biomass (r2 > 0.40 P < 0.05), and a lack of correlation with temperature (P > 0.05). Seasonal differences in abundance and BGE were mainly attributed to an ‘abnormally’ warm winter of 2006, which caused a greater stratification of the water column—a weaker and much deeper oxycline. The oxycline is normally shallower (<20 m) in the zone because of the ascent of the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) upon upwelling. Winter 2006 conditions indicated presence of a weak El Niño event. Bacteria abundance increased during this warming event, but their metabolic activity was drastically reduced, resulting in a very low BGE. Our study suggests that changes from a prevailing sub-oxic to a highly oxygenated water column could have impacted the bacterial community, thus reducing its productive capacity. Therefore, variation in vertical distribution of the OMZ forced by upwelling variability and the El Niño impact might play an important role in the dynamics of the microbial component in this highly productive upwelling system.

Keywords

bacterial productionChileEl Niñooxygen conditionupwelling
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 92 , Issue 1 , February 2012 , pp. 1 - 12
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Barber, R.T. and Chavéz, F.P. (1983) Biological consequences of El Niño. Science 222, 1203–1210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barber, R. and Smith, R. (1981) Coastal upwelling ecosystems. In Longhurst, A. (ed.) Analysis of marine ecosystems. New York: Academic Press, pp. 31–68.Google Scholar
Bernal, P. (1990) La oceanografía del sistema de corrientes de Chile–Perú en relación a las pesquerías pelágicas: una revisión. In Barbieri, M.A. (ed.) Perspectivas de la actividad pesquera en Chile. Valparaíso: Escuela de Ciencias del Mar UCV, pp. 35–48.Google Scholar
Billen, G., Servais, P. and Becquevort, S. (1990) Dynamics of bacterioplankton in oligotrophic and eutrophic aquatic environments bottom-up or top-down control? Hydrobiology 207, 37–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blanco, J.L., Thomas, A.C., Carr, M.E. and Strub, P.T. (2001) Seasonal climatology of hydrographic conditions in the upwelling region off northern Chile. Journal of Geophysical Research 106, 11451–11467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowden, K.F. (1983) Physical oceanography of coastal waters. New York: Ellis Horwood Series on Marine Science, John Wiley & Sons, 302 pp.Google Scholar
Brown, P.C., Painting, S.J. and Cochrane, K.L. (1991) Estimates of phytoplankton and bacterial biomass and production in the northern and southern Benguela ecosystems. South African Journal of Marine Science 11, 537–564.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carpenter, J.H. (1965) The accuracy of the Winkler method for dissolved oxygen. Limnology and Oceanography 10, 135–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, J.J., Findlay, S. and Pace, M.L. (1988) Bacterial production in fresh and saltwater ecosystems: a cross-system overview. Marine Ecology Progress Series 43, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, J.J. and Pace, M.L. (1995) Bacterial secondary production in oxic and anoxic freshwaters. Limnology and Oceanography 40, 1019–1027.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cuevas, L.A., Daneri, G., Jacob, B. and Montero, P. (2004) Microbial abundance and activity in the seasonal upwelling area off Concepción (36°S), central Chile: a comparison of upwelling and non-upwelling conditions. Deep-Sea Research II 51, 2427–2440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cuevas, L.A. and Morales, C.E. (2006) Nanoheterotroph grazing on bacteria and cyanobacteria in oxic and suboxic waters in coastal upwelling areas off northern Chile. Journal of Plankton Research 28, 385–397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daneri, G., Dellarossa, V., Quiñones, R., Jacob, B., Montero, P. and Ulloa, O. (2000) Primary production and community respiration in the Humboldt Current System off Chile and associated oceanic areas. Marine Ecology Progress Series 197, 41–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
del Giorgio, P.A., Cole, J.J. and Cimbleris, A. (1997) Respiration rates in bacteria exceed phytoplankton production in unproductive aquatic systems. Nature 385, 148–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
del Giorgio, P.A. and Cole, J.J. (2000) Bacterial energetics and growth efficiency. In Kirchman, D. (ed.) Microbial ecology of the oceans. New York: Wiley-Liss, pp. 289–325.Google Scholar
Ducklow, W.H. and Carlson, C.A. (1992) Ocean bacterial production. Advances in Microbial Ecology 12, 113–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ducklow, W.H. (2000) Bacterial production and biomass in the ocean. In Kirchman, D. (ed.) Microbial ecology of the oceans. New York: Wiley-Liss, pp. 289–325.Google Scholar
Escribano, R., Rosales, S. and Blanco, J.L. (2004) Understanding upwelling circulation of Bahía Antofagasta (northern Chile): a numerical modeling approach. Continental Shelf Research 24, 37–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuhrman, J.A. (1999) Marine viruses and their biogeochemical and ecological effects. Nature 399, 541–548.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fuhrman, J.A. and Azam, F. (1982) Thymidine incorporation as a measure of heterotrophic bacterioplankton production in marine surface waters evaluation and field results. Marine Biology 66, 109–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gasol, J.M., Pedrós-Alió, C. and Vaqué, D. (2002) Regulation of bacterial assemblages in oligotrophic plankton systems: results from experimental and empirical approaches. Antonie van Leeuwenhoekm 81, 435–452.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
González, H.E., Daneri, G., Figueroa, D., Iriarte, J.L.Lefèvre, N., Pizarro, G., Quiñones, R., Sobarzo, M. and Troncoso, A. (1998) Producción primaria y su destino en la trama trófica pelágica y océano profundo e intercambio océano-atmósfera de CO2 en la zona norte de la Corriente de Humboldt (23°S): posibles efectos del evento El Niño, 1997–98 en Chile. Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 71, 429–458.Google Scholar
González, H.E., Giesecke, R., Vargas, C.A., Pavez, M., Iriarte, J.L., Santibáñez, P., Castro, L., Escribano, R. and Pagès, F. (2004) Carbon cycling through the pelagic foodweb in the northern Humboldt Current off Chile (23°S). ICES Journal of Marine Science 61, 572–584.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helly, J.J. and Levin, L.A. (2004) Global distribution of naturally occurring marine hypoxia on continental margins. Deep-Sea Research Part I 51, 1159–1168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herrera, L. and Escribano, R. (2006) Factors structuring the phytoplankton community in the upwelling site off El Loa River in northern Chile. Journal of Marine Systems 61, 13–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holm-Hansen, O., Lorenzen, C.J., Holmes, R.W. and Strickland, J.D.H. (1965) Fluorometric determination of chlorophyll. Journal du Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer 30, 3–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iriarte, J.L., Pizarro, G., Troncoso, V.A. and Sobarzo, M. (2000) Primary production and biomass of size-fractionated phytoplankton off Antofagasta, Chile (23–24°S) during pre-El Niño and El Niño 1997. Journal of Marine Systems 26, 37–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirchman, D.L. (1993) Leucine incorporation as a measure of biomass production by heterotrophic bacteria. In Kemp, P.F., Sherr, B.F., Sherr, E.B. and Cole, J.J. (eds) Handbook of methods in aquatic microbial ecology. Boca Raton, FL: Lewis Publishers, pp. 513–517.Google Scholar
Kirchman, D.L., Quinby, H.L., Shiah, E. and Ducklow, H.W. (1994) Temperature and substrate regulation of bacterial abundance, production and specific growth rate in Chesapeake Bay USA. Marine Ecology Progress Series 103, 297–308.Google Scholar
Lee, S.H. and Fuhrman, J.A. (1987) Relationships between biovolume and biomass of naturally derived marine bacterioplankton. Applied Environmental Microbiology 53, 1298–1303.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Li, W.K.W., Dickie, P.M., Irwin, B.D. and Wood, A.M. (1992) Biomass of bacteria, cyanobacteria, prochlorophytes and photosynthetic eukaryotes in the Sargasso Sea. Deep-Sea Research 39, 501–519.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipschultz, F., Wofsy, S.C., Ward, B.B., Codispoti, L.A., Friedrich, G. and Elkins, J.W. (1990) Bacterial transformations of inorganic nitrogen in the oxygen deficient waters of the Eastern Tropical South Pacific Ocean. Deep-Sea Research 37, 1513–1541.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McManus, G.B. and Peterson, W.T. (1988) Bacterioplankton production in the nearshore zone during upwelling off central Chile. Marine Ecology Progress Series 43, 11–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Molina, V., Farias, L., Eissler, Y., Cuevas, L.A., Morales, C.E. and Escribano, R. (2005) Ammonium cycling under a strong oxygen gradient associated with the oxygen minimum zone off northern Chile (23°S). Marine Ecology Progress Series 288, 35–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Møller, E.F. (2005) Sloppy feeding in marine copepods: prey-size dependent production of dissolved organic carbon. Journal of Plankton Research 27, 27–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montecinos, V. and Quiroz, D. (2000) Specific primary production and phytoplankton cell size structure in an upwelling area off the coast of Chile (30°S). Aquatic Science 62, 364–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morales, C.E., Hormazabal, S. and Blanco, J.L. (1999) Interannual variability in the mesoscale distribution of the depth of the upper boundary of the oxygen minimum layer off northern Chile (18–248S): implications for the pelagic system and biogeochemical cycling. Journal of Marine Research 57, 909–932.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagata, T. (2000) Production mechanisms of dissolved organic matter. In Kirchman, D. (ed.) Microbial ecology of the oceans. New York: Wiley-Liss, pp. 121–152.Google Scholar
Neuer, S. and Cowles, T.J. (1994) Protist herbivory in the Oregon upwelling system. Marine Ecology Progress Series 113, 147–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ortlieb, L., Escribano, R., Follegati, R., Zúñiga, O., Kong, I., Rodríguez, L., Valdés, J., Guzmán, N. and Iratchet, P. (2000) Recording of ocean-climate changes during the last 2,000-years in a hypoxic marine environment off northern Chile (23°S). Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 73, 221–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Painting, S.J., Lucas, M.I., Peterson, W.T., Brown, P.C., Hutchings, L., Mitchell, B. and Innes, A. (1993) Dynamics of bacterioplankton communities during the development of an upwelling plume in the southern Benguela. Marine Ecology Progress Series 35, 35–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pantoja, S., Rossel, P., Castro, R., Cuevas, L.A., Daneri, G. and Córdova, C. (2009) Microbial degradation rates of small peptides and amino acids in the oxygen minimum zone of Chilean coastal waters. Deep-Sea Research II 56, 1055–1062.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palma, W., Escribano, R. and Rosales, S. (2006) Modeling study of seasonal and inter-annual variability of circulation in the coastal upwelling site of the El Loa River off northern Chile. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 67, 93–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pilson, M. (1985) Annual cycles of nutrients and chlorophyll in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. Journal of Marine Research 43, 849–873.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pizarro, O., Hormazábal, S., González, A. & Yáñez, E. (1994) Variabilidad del viento, nivel del mar y temperatura en la costa norte de Chile. Investigaciones Marinas, Valparaíso 22, 83–101.Google Scholar
Reinthaler, T. and Herndl, G.J. (2005) Seasonal dynamics of bacterial growth efficiencies in relation to phytoplankton in the southern North Sea. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 39, 7–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryther, J.H. (1969) Photosynthesis and fish production in the sea. Science 166, 72–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sherr, B.F., Sherr, E.B. and Pedros-Alio, C. (1989) Simultaneous measurement of bacterioplankton production and protozoan bacterivory in estuarine water. Marine Ecology Progress Series 54, 209–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sorokin, Y.I. (1978) Microbial production in a coral reef community. Archives of Hydrobiology 83, 281–323.Google Scholar
Stevens, H. and Ulloa, O. (2008) Bacterial diversity in the oxygen minimum zone of the eastern tropical South Pacific. Environmental Microbiology 10, 1244–1259.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strickland, J.D.H. and Parsons, T.R. (1972) A practical handbook of seawater analysis. 2nd edition. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 167, 1–311.Google Scholar
Thomas, A., Strub, T., Huang, F. and James, C. (1994) A comparison of the seasonal and interannual variability of phytoplankton pigment concentration in the Peru and California Current systems. Journal of Geophysical Research 99, 7355–7370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Troncoso, V.A., Daneri, G., Cuevas, L.A., Jacob, B. and Montero, P. (2003) Bacterial carbon flow in the Humboldt Current System off Chile. Marine Ecology Progress Series 250, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uitto, A., Heiskanen, A.S., Lignell, R., Autio, R. and Pajuniemi, R. (1997) Summer dynamics of the coastal planktonic food web in the northern Baltic Sea. Marine Ecology Progress Series 151, 27–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vargas, C.A. and González, H.E. (2003) Plankton community structure and carbon cycling in a coastal upwelling system I. Bacteria, microprotozoans and phytoplankton in the diet of copepods and appendicularians. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 34, 151–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vargas, C.A. and Gonzalez, H.E. (2004) Plankton community structure and carbon cycling in a coastal upwelling system. II Microheterotrophic pathway. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 34, 165–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vargas, C.A., Cuevas, L.A., Gonzalez, H.E. and Daneri, G. (2007) Bacterial growth response to copepod grazing in aquatic ecosystems. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 87, 667–674.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, S.W., Novitsky, T.J., Quinby, H.L. and Valois, F.W. (1977) Determination of bacterial number and biomass in the marine environment. Applied Environmental Microbiology 33, 940–946.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilkinson, L. and Engelman, L. (2005) SYSTAT 11.0: Statistics I. San Jose, CA: SYSTAT Software Inc, 470 pp.Google Scholar