ALBERT

Notes: Abstract Water from the 150 μ surface film 50 miles north of Puerto Rico at 19°30′ N, 66°30′W supported only a negligible microflora compared to that of adjacent stations. Bacteriostasis was indicated when a ten-fold dilution of the sample resulted in a ninety-fold increase in cultivable microorganisms. The surviving organisms, atypical pseudomonads, were biochemically inactive in comparison to isolates from the other stations. Net phytoplankters at this station were similar in relative composition and abundance to those at the adjacent station.

Notes: Abstract The release of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) by Ascophyllum nodosum (L.) Le Jol. and Fucus vesiculusus L. during rehydration was investigated after desiccation under experimental conditions. During 30 min of rehydration of plants which had lost up to 70% of their water, A. nodosum released about 2 to 10 mg C/100 g dry weight, while F. vesiculosus released 10 to 50 times more. When dried to water losses exceeding 70%, plants of both species yielded similar amounts of DOC, approximating 2 g C/100 g dry weight. Considerable variance in the amounts of DOC released by individual plant of both species was observed over the whole range of water losses tested. Among the DOC released, the portion of carbohydrate-C was O to 5% with A. nodosum but 2 to 47% with F. vesiculosus. This difference was most pronounced when less than 100 mg C/100 g dry weight were released. A. nodosum regained a smaller percentage of its original weight than F. vesiculosus after 30 min of rehydration when more than 30% of fresh weight were lost during desiccation. Curves were obtained which enable the estimation of water losses in naturally desiccated specimens within 30 min.

Notes: Abstract Dissolved total carbohydrate (TCHO), polysaccharide (PCHO), monosaccharide (MCHO) and organic carbon (DOC) were determined at 3-h intervals over 5 diel cycles in the mixed layer of the northwestern Caribbean Sea while following a drogued buoy. These data have been compared to populations of phototrophic (PNAN) and heterotrophic (HNAN) nanoplankton (2–20 μm diameter) and heterotrophic bacteria (HBAC) (0.2–2.0 μm diameter) estimated by epifluorescence counts, as well as to ΣCO2, phosphate, chlorophyll a and phaeopigment data determined simultaneously. Two different types of apparent diel dissolved carbohydrate (CHO) patterns were found. On 3 d when no sustained net ΣCO2 uptake was evident, TCHO and PCHO generally declined during the afternoon and early evening while MCHO tended to increase. On two other days when apparent sustained ΣCO2 uptake occurred during the day, there were large evening TCHO and PCHO peaks with constant or declining MCHO levels. These accumulations probably resulted from the release of recently produced PCHO from phototrophs. As was found earlier in the Sargasso Sea, PNAN populations were inversely related to PCHO concentrations. The sample to sample fluctuations of PNAN also were inversely related to the apparent rates of change of TCHO and PCHO, possibly due to an inverse relation between the rates of PNAN cell division and CHO excretion. Fluctuations in HBAC populations were inversely correlated with PCHO dynamics and directly related to MCHO variations, possibly due to extracellular hydrolysis of PCHO to MCHO during periods of rapid bacterial growth as well as to net heterotrophic PCHO uptake. A direct relationship between HNAN and TCHO fluctuations suggests the importance of HNAN excretion in the release of dissolved organics. The combined PNAN and HBAC fluctuations accounted for a more significant fraction of the variance in the apparent rates of change of PCHO than did any single population parameter indicating that intimate interactions between the microbial plankton groups are important in the in-situ regulation of CHO dynamics. Total system net TCHO release and uptake rates for 5 d averaged 56 and 53 μg C l-1 d-1 respectively, assuming that the observed fluctuations resulted from temporal planktonic processes in homogeneous water masses. While the data contain indications that this was the case, this assumption is not definitive.

Notes: Abstract Six diel TCO2 cycles determined by infrared (IR) photometry from five drift stations occupied between 24 February and 16 March 1979 in the mixed layer of the northwestern Caribbean Sea are examined. Comparison of TCO2 variation with coincident salinity and O2 variation demonstrated that TCO2 often co-varied with these independently measured variables. During five diel cycles TCO2 variation was characterized by nocturnal production and diurnal consumption. The inverse, diurnal production of CO2, occurred downstream from Misteriosa Bank, whose corals apparently contributed to a water mass having a twofold increase of POC and a sixfold larger population of heterotrophic nanoplankters. For the five diel studies carried out in waters with balanced or nearly blanced heterotrophic and phototrophic components of the nanoplankton, CO2 consumption at constant salinity always occurred between 06.00 and 09.00 hrs. Net uptake often continued through 15.00 hrs, but not always in the absence of significant salinity changes. At constant salinity net O2 evolution never exceeded 0.5 μmol l-1 h-1 while net CO2 uptake consistently averaged 3 μmol l-1 h-1 for an apparent net production of 36 mg C m-3 h-1, which greatly exceeds the O2 changes and open ocean 14C estimates from the literature. Diurnal consumption was apparently balanced by nocturnal production of CO2 so that no significant net daily change in TCO2 was observed. Departures from theoretical PQ and RQ and the possibility of nocturnal variations in formaldehyde and carbonate alkalinity imply that chemotrophs, both methane producers and methane oxidizers, play a significant role in CO2 cycling. This could be through the metabolism of the nonconservative gases CH4, CO, and H2, and a link between chemotrophy and phototrophy through these gases is hypothesized. These open system measurements were subject to diffusion and documentable patchiness, but temporal TCO2 changes appear to indicate the net direction of microbiological activity and join a growing body of literature showing dynamic variation in CO2 and O2 that exceeds estimates by 14C bottle assays of carbon fixation.

Notes: Abstract The concentrations of total dissolved carbohydrate (TCHO), monosaccharide (MCHO) and polysaccharide (PCHO) were followed over a total of ten diel cycles in a salt marsh and a 13 m3 seawater tank simulating an estuarine ecosystem. Their patterns are compared to those for total dissolved organic carbon (DOC), ΣCO2, pH, O2, chlorophyll a, phaeopigments and solar radiation. During 5 of the 6 marsh studies, PCHO underwent periods of sustained accumulation starting in the late morning or early afternoon and continuing into the early evening. These periods possibly represent release of recently synthesized PCHO from phototrophs. similar patterns were not found in the tank although direct associations between TCHO and phaeopigment dynamics suggest that zooplankton excretion was an important source of dissolved carbohydrate. The numbers of planktonic bacteria determined in one tank study increased rapidly during a late morning PCHO pulse and varied inversely with PCHO throughout the afternoon and evening, indicating that they were able to respond rapidly and control natural substrate concentrations on a time scale of a few hours. MCHO fluctuated to a much lesser extent than PCHO at both locations with levels possibly maintained near the bacterial uptake threshold or in a closely regulated steady state. TCHO concentration changes over 2-to 3-h sampling intervals suggest very rapid net system release and uptake with summer rates frequently exceeding 30 μg C l-1h-1 in the marsh and 20 μg C l-1 h-1 in the tank.

Notes: Abstract In an attempt to evaluate ΣCO2 changes as an index of net ecosystem metabolism, ΣCO2 and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) by infrared (IR) analysis and O2 by the Winkler method were followed over 12 diel cycles in a salt marsh, a simulated estuarine ecosystem, and the mixed layer of the northwestern Caribbean Sea. Each ecosystem exhibited replicable diel cycles, net production during the photoperiod, and a significant inverse correlation between ΣCO2 and O2 changes. Daily rates of system production and respiration calculated from ΣCO2, however, exceeded those from O2 by 1.5 to 3.5 fold in nearshore waters and by 2 to 6 fold in the open ocean. Net total system apparent production based on O2 and ΣCO2, respectively, were 2 345 and 3 604 mg C m-3d-1 for the salt marsh, 348 and 625 mg C m-3d-1 for the estuarine ecosystem, and 53 and 306 mg C m-3d-1 for the oceanic ecosystem, both parameters exceeding 14C data in the literature for similar environments by one to two orders of magnitude. The IR ΣCO2 productivity estimates are compatible with the diel cycles in DOC. In the marsh and Caribbean Sea, maxinium DOC concentrations were usually observed in the evening following a gradual accumulation during the photoperiod, while minimal values occurred in the early morning. In all ecosystems the average net release of DOC lagged CO2 uptake and O2 production and represented 22.7 and 43.3% of the carbon fixed as estimated from CO2 uptake and O2 production, respectively. If the consistently higher ΣCO2 measurements are not a systematic error nor due to atmospheric diffusion, then diel variation in O2 and CO2 may not always be quantitatively coupled due in part to habitat-dependent factors such as the nonphotosynthetic incorporation of CO2 and chemosynthetic removal of O2.

Notes: Abstract Significant correlations between trophic components of the 〈20 μm microbial plankton and the concentrations of total dissolved carbohydrate (TCHO) and polysaccharide (PCHO) have been found at two drogued buoy stations which were sampled at 3 or 4-h intervals over diel cycles. An attempt was made to sample on two pre-selected isotherms (approximating isopycnals) at each station. Significant inverse correlations of TCHO and of PCHO with numbers of phototrophic nanoplankton (PNAN) were found along both isotherms at a station off the Carolina coast. Off central Florida, TCHO and/or PCHO were significant multiple linear functions of PNAN, heterotrophic bacterioplankton (BAC) and sometimes heterotrophic nanoplankton (HNAN) counts. Partial regression coefficients for PNAN were always negative and those for HNAN were positive. Inverse trends dominated the relations of BAC with PCHO and TCHO. The combined data from the two stations (300 nautical miles apart) produced very similar multiple linear relations. This suggests that the observed relationships are real, resulting from general physiological processes and interactions of the microbial plankton groups rather than from chance occurrences at a particular station, and that the combined activities of the 〈20 μm plankton actively regulate dissolved carbohydrate concentrations in the Sargasso Sea.

Notes: Abstract The yeast populations on 9 species of seaweeds and in seawater were estimated by cultural methods over a 16-month period in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island (USA). Maximal numbers occurred on rhodophytes and a chlorophyte, while the lower numbers on phaeophytes were attributed to the release of inhibitory polyphenolic materials. All divisions of algae showed a similar seasonal variation in yeast populations, correlated with trends in solar radiation and water temperature which would affect both the host and its microflora. The exposure of intertidal algae to unseasonable air temperatures apparently has a detectable effect on their microflora. The population changes in the water surrounding the seaweeds paralleled those on the plants. Only colorless yeasts of the genus Candida were observed, except for brief occurrences of the pink yeast Rhodotorula in late spring, when it accounted for 3 to 35% of the yeast community. Ninety five percent of the 362 representative isolates were strains of Candida. The published properties of the 84 species accepted in the genus Candida were compared with those of the marine isolates using numerical analysis. There were 7 groups: 1 solely of named species, 3 small groups with both named species and marine isolates, and 3 large groups with only one or two named species that contained 75% of the seaweed and sea-water isolates. An apparent successional sequence for three groups may be due to differences in their biochemical activity. The same three groups were preferentially enriched by 5 of the algal species. The role of this persistent yeast population as a reservoir of inshore yeasts is discussed.

Notes: Abstract Nuclepore filters of 0.6–1.0μm pore size have been used to prepare “protist-free” water for a number of studies in microbial ecology. This procedure has been called into question by a recent study claiming that a significant portion of bacterial loss in filtrates could be due to uncharacterized predators passing through 0.6μm filters. We were unable to directly observe protists in 0.6μm filtrates using phase contrast, epifluorescence, or transmission electron microscopy. Using the culture techniques of rice grain enrichment and most probable number, however, we were able to observe and quantify several species of bacterivorous nanoflagellates that developed not only in 0.6μm, but also in 0.4μm seawater filtrates. The ability of predacious nanoflagellates to squeeze through bacteria-sized pores questions studies of bacterial production and chemical cycling that have assumed protist-free filtrates.

Notes: Abstract A scheme has been developed for observing diurnal changes in dissolved organic matter in the photic zone and correlating the with specific microbial fractions and their rates of growth and uptake. Particulate ATP for procaryote and protist size fractions were augmented by pigment analyses to differentiate phototroph from phagotroph dominated accumulations. A temporary daytime increase in carbohydrates of some 32% above pre-dawn threshold values accounted for 41% of the labile DOC. Polysaccharide and monosaccharide maxima were mainly associated with phagotrophic protists, the monosaccharide maxima occurring during the daytime. Apparent maximum in situ heterotrophic uptake rates of this released DOC of 9.8 μg C L−1 hr−1 agree well with the growth rates of natural populations of the bacterial size fraction (picoplankton) on in situ water in diffusion culture of 5.1 μg C L−1 hr−1. This growth was associated with phototroph maxima but occurred only during the afternoon and evening hours and not during the early morning and intense daylight hours. Proposed follow-up studies are outlined.