Biomass of bacteria, cyanobacteria, prochlorophytes and photosynthetic eukaryotes in the Sargasso Sea
Li, W.K.W.; Dickie, P.M.; Irwin, B.D.; Wood, A.M. (1992). Biomass of bacteria, cyanobacteria, prochlorophytes and photosynthetic eukaryotes in the Sargasso Sea. Deep-Sea Res. A 39(3-4): 501-519. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0198-0149(92)90085-8
In: Deep-Sea Research, Part A. Oceanographic Research Papers. Pergamon: Oxford. ISSN 0198-0149; e-ISSN 1878-2477, more
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| Authors | | Top |
- Li, W.K.W.
- Dickie, P.M.
- Irwin, B.D.
- Wood, A.M.
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| Abstract |
Bacteria, cyanobacteria, prochlorophytes and photosynthetic eukaryotes were enumerated in depth profiles at a station in the northern Sargasso Sea occupied for 9 days during September 1988. Carbon biomass of each group was inferred from cell abundance using conversion factors taken from the literature. Over the upper 200 m in the water column, carbon biomass occurred in the approximate proportion of 1:2:4:8 for cyanobacteria:prochlorophytes:photosynthetic eukaryotes:bacteria. Taken together, the three phytoplankton groups represented about the same amount of carbon biomass as the bacteria. This conclusion was validated by the independent measure of bulk chlorophyll a (Chl a) if the carbon:Chl a ratio was assumed to be about 44 in the nitrate-depleted layer and about 15 in the nitrate-rich layer. In reporting the biomass co-dominance of bacteria and phytoplankton, we do not deny that bacteria may dominate phytoplankton at other times and places in the oligotrophic ocean. Biomass co-dominance between these two trophic groups admits the possibility that oligotrophic bacterial assemblages may have high growth rates. |
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