Suspended Organic Matter in the Tasman Sea

1963 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pont G Dal ◽  
B Newell

Samples of particulate material were collected down to 4500 m at a station in the Tasman Sea. The material was analysed for its carbon and nitrogen content. Determinations of total organic phosphorus were also made on water samples collected at the same depths. Some 400 g of carbon were found under 1 m² of sea surface, and the vertical distribution of particulate carbon, nitrogen, and organic phosphorus was closely related to the hydrological structure.

2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 175-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Rojek ◽  
F.A. Roddick ◽  
A. Parkinson

Phanerochaete chrysosporium was shown to rapidly decolorise a solution of natural organic matter (NOM). The effect of various parameters such as carbon and nitrogen content, pH, ionic strength, NOM concentration and addition of Mn2+ on the colour removal process was investigated. The rapid decolorisation was related to fungal growth and biosorption rather than biodegradation as neither carbon nor nitrogen limitation, nor Mn2+ addition, triggered the decolorisation process. Low pH (pH 3) and increased ionic strength (up to 50 g L‒1 added NaCl) led to greater specific removal (NOM/unit biomass), probably due to increased electrostatic bonding between the humic material and the biomass. Adsorption of NOM with viable and inactivated (autoclaved or by sodium azide) fungal pellets occurred within 24 hours and the colour removal depended on the viability, method of inactivation and pH. Colour removal by viable pellets was higher under the same conditions, and this, combined with desorption data, confirmed that fungal metabolic activity was important in the decolorisation process. Overall, removals of up to 40–50% NOM from solution were obtained. Of this, removal by adsorption was estimated as 60–70%, half of which was physicochemical, the other half metabolically-dependent biosorption and bioaccumulation. The remainder was considered to be removed by biodegradation, although some of this may be ascribed to bioaccumulation and metabolically-dependent biosorption.


1967 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 909-915 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. W. Sheldon ◽  
T. R. Parsons

The size spectrum of particulate material in seawater can easily be expressed as total particle volume versus the logarithm of particle diameter. This appears to be the most informative way to present the data and it is also aptly suited to the classical divisions of nanno-, micro-, and macroplankton.A realistic measure of the volume of irregularly shaped particles such as phytoplankton chains could be made with a Coulter Counter. Particle volume measurements were in good agreement with estimates based on microscopic determination of particle diameter. There were also highly significant correlations between total particle volume, as indicated by the counter, and particulate carbon and nitrogen.


2013 ◽  
Vol 724-725 ◽  
pp. 431-436
Author(s):  
Ming Sheng Yang

We conducts a systematic study on the biological sources of the sediment organic matter through the analysis of the organic carbon and nitrogen content in the sediments of Poyang Lake, the n-alkanes as biomarker and the characteristics of the compound-specific isotope of n-alkanes. It is found that the C/N ratio of organic matter is less than 10 in Poyang Lake and that the organic matter mainly originates from lacustrine aquatic organism. The short-chain hydrocarbon takes absolute advantage in the n-alkanes. The value of C21-/C22+is greater than 1, which shows that the biomass of bacteria and algae is greater than the sum of the aquatic submerged plants and terrigenous organisms biomass. The value of (nC15+nC17)/(nC23+nC25) of n-alkanes is greater than 2, which reveals that bacteria and algae have an absolute predominance in aquatic organism. The high carbon n-alkanes come from terrigenous plants and their compound-specific carbon isotope demonstrates that C3plant is the main biological source.


1972 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. Sutcliffe Jr.

A year's record of the carbon content of living and of carbon and nitrogen content of nonliving suspended particulate material from St. Margaret's Bay, Nova Scotia, is presented. From considerations of carbon/nitrogen ratios and nutrient data from other sources, the nitrogen budget is briefly considered. The possible importance of land drainage into the bay leads to some positive correlations between runoff and catch of four commercially important species in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.


1981 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 245 ◽  
Author(s):  
DJW Moriarty ◽  
MC Barclay

The food of seven species of penaeid prawns from the Gulf of Carpentaria consists predominantly of Foraminifera, small molluscs, crustaceans and polychaetes. Measurements of organic and inorganic carbon, organic nitrogen and bacterial biomass were made. Foregut contents of adult prawns contained between 72 and 223 mg organic carbon/g dry wt. Protein constituted between 43 and 64% of the organic matter. Approximate assimilation efficiencies of food in prawns caught in the gulf, determined for four species, varied from 48 to 77% of organic carbon and from 42 to 77% of organic nitrogen. The food of juvenile Penaeus merguiensis was examined for two growing seasons. In the 1976-1977 season the foregut contents contained a mean of 41 mg organic nitrogen /g dry wt and 181 mg organic carbon /g dry wt. In the 1977-1978 season, significantly lower proportions of organic nitrogen and carbon were eaten, viz, 21 mg organic nitrogenlg dry wt and 101 mg organic carbon /g dry wt. Improved assay procedures for muramic acid have shown that bacteria are less important in the food of prawns than previously reported. Bacteria constituted less than 2% of the organic matter in the adults of all species, but in many juvenile P. merguiensis bacteria were more important, constituting up to 14% of organic matter.


2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 2975-2988 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Stolle ◽  
K. Nagel ◽  
M. Labrenz ◽  
K. Jürgens

Abstract. The sea-surface microlayer (SML) is located within the boundary between the atmosphere and hydrosphere. The high spatial and temporal variability of the SML's properties, however, have hindered a clear understanding of interactions between biotic and abiotic parameters at or across the air-water interface. Among the factors changing the physical and chemical environment of the SML, wind speed is an important one. In order to examine the temporal effects of minimized wind influence, SML samples were obtained from the coastal zone of the southern Baltic Sea and from mesocosm experiments in a marina to study naturally and artificially calmed sea surfaces. Organic matter concentrations as well as abundance, 3H-thymidine incorporation, and the community composition of bacteria in the SML (bacterioneuston) compared to the underlying bulk water (ULW) were analyzed. In all SML samples, dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen were only slightly enriched and showed low temporal variability, whereas particulate organic carbon and nitrogen were generally greatly enriched and highly variable. This was especially pronounced in a dense surface film (slick) that developed during calm weather conditions as well as in the artificially calmed mesocosms. Overall, bacterioneuston abundance and productivity correlated with changing concentrations of particulate organic matter. Moreover, changes in the community composition in the field study were stronger in the particle-attached than in the non-attached bacterioneuston. This implies that decreasing wind enhances the importance of particle-attached assemblages and finally induces a succession of the bacterial community in the SML. Eventually, under very calm meteorological conditions, there is an uncoupling of the bacterioneuston from the ULW.


2009 ◽  
Vol 60 (7) ◽  
pp. 647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janusz A. Tomaszek ◽  
Piotr Koszelnik ◽  
Renata Gruca-Rokosz

The feasibility of using carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of sediment organic matter (OM) to elucidate the source and fate of bottom sediment was studied in the Solina Reservoir (south-east Poland). Horizontal and vertical changes in OM, total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) content, as well as δ15N and δ13C values, in bottom sediments were analysed to establish the extent to which these sediments are terrestrial or internal in origin. Increased proportions of TOC along with slight decreases in TN were noted in the surface layer of shallow water sediment compared with the profundal sites. Upstream shallower C : N and δ15N values amounted to ~15 and ~2‰, respectively, pointing to the allochthonous origin of the OM. In turn, profundal C : N ratios of less than 10 and δ15N values of ~4‰ indicated autochthonous sediment. Values for δ13C did not differ between stations and ranged from –27.39 to –27.66‰. It is therefore suggested that the sediment from the upper shallower stations contains more allochthonous, refractory OM, whereas the profundal stations have planktonic OM enriching the sediment. This combined with the vertical distribution observed for δ15N signalled an intensification of eutrophication over the past few years.


1924 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 555-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selman A. Waksman

Various investigations on the decomposition of organic matter in the soil have brought out the fact that there exists a more or less constant ratio between the carbon and nitrogen content of the soil, whatever the ratio between these elements in the organic matter originally added to the soil. This ratio varies from 8: 1 to 12: 1, i.e. for every 8 to 12 parts of carbon, there exists in the soil one part of nitrogen; the average ratio is about 10 to 1. Brown and O'Neal (1923), for example, found that the ratio of the carbon to the nitrogen in a Carrington loam is 12: 1 to 13: 1, while, in the case of a Tama silt loam, the ratio may go down to 10: 1. According to Sievers (1923), the ratio of carbon to nitrogen in the soil is about 11·6: 1. Russell (1923) stated that, although there is about 40 times as much carbon as nitrogen in the original plant residues, the ratio will drop down to 10 to 1, before these residues have been very long in the soil. This ratio seemed to be in a stable position, for which no explanation could be suggested. Fraps (1922) found the ratio of carbon to nitrogen in the surface soil to be 9·2: 1 and in the subsoil 8·3: 1; he suggested, therefore, to judge the percentage of organic carbon in the soil from the percentage of nitrogen present.


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