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Respiration rates in marine heterotrophic bacteria relate to the cytometric characteristics of bacterioplankton communities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2009

Mathilde Schapira ,
Thomas Pollet ,
James G. Mitchell  and
L. Seuront
Mathilde Schapira*
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
Thomas Pollet
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia UMR CARRTEL, Centre Alpin de Recherche sur les Réseaux Trophiques des Ecosystèmes Limniques, Station d'Hydrologie Lacustre, Université de Savoie, 75 Avenue de Corzent, BP 511, 74203 Thonon les Bains Cedex, France
James G. Mitchell
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
L. Seuront
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia South Australian Research and Development Institute, Aquatic Sciences, West Beach, SA 5022, Australia
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: M. Schapira, Southern Ocean Research Group, Department of Entomology and Zoology, Rhodes University, PO Box 94, Grahamstown, 6040, South Africa email: M.Schapira@ru.ac.za
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Abstract

Respiration in marine bacteria (fraction <0.6 µm) was investigated in 5 distinct coastal ecosystems. Respiration rates were estimated from the decrease of dissolved oxygen (O2) concentrations measured with a fibre-optic oxygen sensor (optode) during short-term incubations (5 to 6 hours) in the dark. Sub-populations of heterotrophic bacteria were defined and enumerated by flow cytometric analysis. Respiration rates ranged from 0.04 to 0.14 µmol O2 l−1 h−1 and were not correlated to total bacteria abundances. In contrast, they significantly increased with the relative proportion of HDNA cells (i.e. high deoxyribonucleic acid content) within the bacterioplankton community. These results stress the need to relate bacterial respiration rates to the absolute and relative abundance of the different cytometrically defined sub-populations found in bacterial assemblages, rather than to total cell counts. This result indicates that only a fraction of bacterial cells may contribute to bacterial respiration, which indicates a reconsideration of the relevance of some previous estimates of bulk bacterial respiration and the related biogeochemical fluxes may be required.

Keywords

marine bacteriarespiration ratesflow cytometrybacteria abundancescommunity structure
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 89 , Issue 6 , September 2009 , pp. 1161 - 1169
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

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