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Remineralization of phytoplankton-derived organic matter by natural populations of heterotrophic bacteria

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Title Remineralization of phytoplankton-derived organic matter by natural populations of heterotrophic bacteria
Names Burkhardt, Brian G. (creator)
Watkins-Brandt, Katie S. (creator)
Defforey, Delphine (creator)
Paytan, Adina (creator)
White, Angelicque E. (creator)
Date Issued 2014-07-20 (iso8601)
Note This is an author's peer-reviewed final manuscript, as accepted by the publisher. The published article is copyrighted by Elsevier and can be found at: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/marine-chemistry/.
Abstract The relative lability, elemental stoichiometry, and remineralization rates of various
particulate organic matter (POM) substrates by natural heterotrophic marine microorganisms was
investigated. POM was harvested from laboratory cultures of a marine diazotroph
(Trichodesmium IMS101), a cosmopolitan diatom (Thalassiosira weissflogii), a common marine
cyanobacteria (Prochlorococcus MED4), and from surface waters off the Oregon coast. These
POM resources were used as inoculants in a field experiment conducted at the Hawaii Ocean
Time-series Station ALOHA in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. POM from these various
sources was added to seawater collected from below the surface mixed layer, incubated in the
dark, and remineralization rates were quantified via high-frequency measurement of soluble
phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) concentrations over a 6-d period. Rapid solubilization and near
complete remineralization of particulate P (PP) occurred in all treatments where cultured POM
was used, with lesser relative mobilization of P from a ‘natural’ POM sample isolated from
surface seawater off the Oregon coast. Soluble P pools, likely consisting of surface-adsorbed
inorganic P and inorganic P liberated from cells during harvesting of biomass accounted for 28%
of natural PP pools and 80 ± 32% of cultured PP. ³¹P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
confirmed that PP was predominately present as orthophosphate in all POM types. By the end of
the incubation period, all added P from cultured material had been converted to dissolved
inorganic P. This finding may be a caveat of our utilization of laboratory cultures and natural
POM which has been exposed to high inorganic P concentrations (0.8-5.0 μmol L⁻¹), albeit it is
consistent with previous reports of significant contributions of surface-adsorbed P to total
particulate P. In contrast, over the course of these experiments, only 37-40% of added N had
been remineralized to ammonium (NH₄⁺). In general, N remineralization rates of cultured
material increased with the amount of N added (per gram of dry material). The net yield of
bacterial cells was also positively correlated to the initial amount of C and N added. Most
notably, when corrected for non-biological turnover (i.e. removal of soluble pools), the N:P
remineralization ratio of cultured material (8.5 ± 1.3) was independent of the N:P of added
organic material (5-23).
Genre Article
Topic Heterotrophy
Identifier Burkhardt, B. G., Watkins-Brandt, K. S., Defforey, D., Paytan, A., & White, A. E. (2014). Remineralization of phytoplankton-derived organic matter by natural populations of heterotrophic bacteria. Marine Chemistry, 163, 1-9. doi:10.1016/j.marchem.2014.03.007

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