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Bacterial activity related to sedimenting particulate matter

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Abstract

The rates of sedimentation of particulate matter were measured at a station in the Eckernförde Bight, Baltic Sea, using sediment traps. Different parameters (C, N, chlorophyll a, phaeopigments, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), heterotrophic activity (glucose maximum uptake velocity, vmax), biological oxygen demand (BOD), and electron-transport-system (ETS) activity) were measured during a 1-year period to evalnate the composition, vertical distribution, and activity of microorganisms associated with sedimenting particulate matter. Measurements indicated that the organic fractions of particulate sedimenting matter were transformed considerably during sedimentation. The seasonal fluctuations showed higher heterotrophic activity durang summer and lower activity during winter. Laboratory experiments also indicated that an important part of planktonic particulate material was susceptible to mineralization within a short period of time: phytoplankton was mineralized by about 35% and “zooplankton” by about 18% per day, at 20°C; at 5°C mineralization was considerably lower (about 3 and 8%, respectively).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Abteilung Marine Mikrobiologie, Institut für Meereskunde an der Universität Kiel, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, D-2300, Kiel 1, Germany

    R. Iturriaga

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Communicated by O. Kinne, Hamburg

Please address all correspondence to: Dr. R. Zimmermann, Institut für Meereskunde an der Universität Kiel, Abteilung Marine Mikrobiologie, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 2300 Kiel 1, Germany (FRG)

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Iturriaga, R. Bacterial activity related to sedimenting particulate matter. Mar. Biol. 55, 157–169 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00396814

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