Year-round patterns in bacterial production and biomass in Lake Simcoe, Ontario, Canada: are heterotrophic bacteria a significant contributor to low hypolimnetic oxygen?

Inland Waters ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Quinn
2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1983-1992 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Obernosterer ◽  
M. Fourquez ◽  
S. Blain

Abstract. It has been univocally shown that iron (Fe) is the primary limiting nutrient for phytoplankton metabolism in high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll (HNLC) waters, yet the question of how this trace metal affects heterotrophic microbial activity is far less understood. We investigated the role of Fe for bacterial heterotrophic production and growth at three contrasting sites in the naturally Fe-fertilized region east of the Kerguelen Islands and at one site in HNLC waters during the KEOPS2 (Kerguelen Ocean and Plateau Compared Study 2) cruise in spring 2011. We performed dark incubations of natural microbial communities amended either with iron (Fe, as FeCl3) or carbon (C, as trace-metal clean glucose), or a combination of both, and followed bacterial abundance and heterotrophic production for up to 7 days. Our results show that single and combined additions of Fe and C stimulated bulk and cell-specific bacterial production at the Fe-fertilized sites, while in HNLC waters only combined additions resulted in significant increases in these parameters. Bacterial abundance was enhanced in two out of the three experiments performed in Fe-fertilized waters but did not respond to Fe or C additions in HNLC waters. Our results provide evidence that both Fe and C are present at limiting concentrations for bacterial heterotrophic activity in the naturally fertilized region off the Kerguelen Islands in spring, while bacteria were co-limited by these elements in HNLC waters. These results shed new light on the role of Fe in bacterial heterotrophic metabolism in regions of the Southern Ocean that receive variable Fe inputs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nóra Szabó-Tugyi ◽  
Viktor R. Tóth

Abstract Growth of submerged and emergent macrophytes was studied together with heterotrophic bacterioplankton abundance and production in two Hungarian shallow lakes with dominant macrophyte covers. It was expected that bacterioplankton numbers and activity would have an effect on macrophyte biomass accumulation. Bacterial production and abundance showed a strong seasonal pattern with maximum in the warmest months (July, August). It was found that macrophyte biomass increased with heterotrophic bacterial production and abundance up to 5.6 µg C l− 1 h− 1 and 5.30*106 cells, respectively, while over that value was negatively associated with macrophyte growth. It was also shown that the relationship between heterotrophic bacteria and macrophytes also varied seasonally, showing a multifaceted relationship. It was demonstrated that macrophytes are not only the most significant carbon and energy source for the bacteria in shallow, macrophyte-dominated lakes, but are also competing organisms that could be supressed by excessive bacterial activity. These findings could help better understand the interaction between macrophytes and bacterioplankton, and assist wetland managers in quantifying what may be a primary cause of reed die-back.


2009 ◽  
Vol 75 (10) ◽  
pp. 3216-3221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandra Calvo-D�az ◽  
Xos� Anxelu G. Mor�n

ABSTRACT Leucine-to-carbon conversion factors (CFs) are needed for converting substrate incorporation into biomass production of heterotrophic bacteria. During 2006 we performed 20 dilution experiments for determining the spatiotemporal variability of empirical CFs in temperate Atlantic coastal waters. Values (0.49 to 1.92 kg C mol Leu−1) showed maxima in autumn to early winter and minima in summer. Spatially averaged CFs were significantly negatively correlated with in situ leucine incorporation rates (r = −0.91) and positively correlated with phosphate concentrations (r = 0.76). These relationships, together with a strong positive covariation between cell-specific leucine incorporation rates and carbon contents (r = 0.85), were interpreted as a strategy to maximize survival through protein synthesis and low growth rates under nutrient limitation (low CFs) until favorable conditions stimulate cell division relative to protein synthesis (high CFs). A multiple regression with in situ leucine incorporation rates and cellular carbon contents explained 96% of CF variance in our ecosystem, suggesting their potential prediction from more easily measurable routine variables. The use of the theoretical CF of 1.55 kg C mol Leu−1 would have resulted in a serious overestimation (73%) of annual bacterial production rates. Our results emphasize the need for considering the temporal scale in CFs for bacterial production studies.


2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 769 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. GIANNAKOUROU ◽  
A. TSIOLA ◽  
M. KANELLOPOULOU ◽  
I. MAGIOPOULOS ◽  
I. SIOKOU ◽  
...  

Τhe entire pelagic microbial food web was studied during the winter-spring period in the frontal area of the North Aegean Sea. Abundance of viruses, heterotrophic bacteria, cyanobacteria, auto- and hetero-trophic flagellates, and ciliates, as well as bacterial production, were measured at three stations (MD1, MD2, MD3) situated along a N-S transect between the area directly influenced by the inflowing Black Sea water and the area covered by the Levantine water. Samples were collected in December 2009, and January, March, April, and May 2011. Station MD1 exhibited the highest values of abundance and integrated biomass of all microbial groups and bacterial production during all months, and MD3 the lowest. Bacteria dominated the total integrated biomass at all stations and months, followed by cyanobacteria, auto-, hetero-trophic flagellates and ciliates. On a temporal scale, the microbial food web was less important in March as all microbial parameters at all stations showed the lowest values. After the phytoplankton bloom in March, the heterotrophic part of the microbial food web (mainly) strongly increased, though the intensity of the phenomenon was diminished from North to South. Pico-sized plankton was found to be heterotrophic whereas nanoplankton was autotrophic. It seems that the influence of the Black Sea water on station MD1, permanent throughout the study period of early winter to late spring, was reflected in all microbial populations studied, and produced a more productive pelagic food web system, with potential consequences for the upper trophic levels.


2007 ◽  
Vol 73 (11) ◽  
pp. 3511-3518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Eiler ◽  
Stefan Bertilsson

ABSTRACT Heterotrophic bacteria are major contributors to biogeochemical cycles and influence water quality. Still, the lack of representative isolates and the few quantitative surveys leave the ecological role and significance of single bacterial populations to be revealed. Here we analyzed the diversity and dynamics of freshwater Flavobacteria populations in four eutrophic temperate lakes. From each lake, clone libraries were constructed using primers specific for either the class Flavobacteria or Bacteria. Sequencing of 194 Flavobacteria clones from 8 libraries revealed a diverse freshwater Flavobacteria community and distinct differences among lakes. Abundance and seasonal dynamics of Flavobacteria were assessed by quantitative PCR with class-specific primers. In parallel, the dynamics of individual populations within the Flavobacteria community were assessed with terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis using identical primers. The contribution of Flavobacteria to the total bacterioplankton community ranged from 0.4 to almost 100% (average, 24%). Blooms where Flavobacteria represented more than 30% of the bacterioplankton were observed at different times in the four lakes. In general, high proportions of Flavobacteria appeared during episodes of high bacterial production. Phylogenetic analyses combined with Flavobacteria community fingerprints suggested dominance of two Flavobacteria lineages. Both drastic alterations in total Flavobacteria and in community composition of this class significantly correlated with bacterial production, emphasizing that resource availability is an important driver of heterotrophic bacterial succession in eutrophic lakes.


2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna L. Dixon

Environmental context. The subtropical oceans comprise ~70% of the world’s ocean surface and profoundly affect global biogeochemistry and climate. They are characteristically low-nutrient regions, but, owing to their large extent and often rapid nutrient turnover, may contribute to greater than 30% of the total marine primary production. However, there remains long-standing uncertainty as to what individual or combination of resources, e.g. macro (N, P) and micro (trace metals) nutrients, limit or co-limit marine productivity and thus total carbon fixation in these spatially dominant gyre systems. Abstract. The subtropical oceans are characteristically low-nutrient low-chlorophyll regions, but owing to their geographical dominance and rapid nutrient cycling may contribute >30% of the total marine primary production. The present study investigates the addition of P, Fe, Co and Zn on rates of primary production and heterotrophic bacterial production, through a combination of mesoscale in situ (P, and P + Fe) and in vitro (Co or Zn) bioassay incubation experiments. Results from the bioassay incubation experiments suggest that primary production and chlorophyll a biomass are limited by N and P in this oligotrophic region. However, both were increased further after addition of trace metal micronutrients in the order Fe + Zn ≥ Fe + Co > Fe ≈ Co. In contrast, rates of heterotrophic bacterial production did not appear to be P, or significantly, P + Fe limited, although in situ rates did increase during the first 12 h of mesoscale P fertilisation (which were not mirrored in the mesoscale P + Fe addition). The addition of Co to unfertilised waters increased heterotrophic bacterial production and the numbers of heterotrophic bacteria, Prochlorococcus spp. and Synechococcus spp., suggesting Co limitation. Prochlorococcus spp. were the most abundant autotrophs. The highest increases in both heterotrophic and autotrophic carbon assimilation were shown after in vitro addition of either Co or Zn to mesoscale enriched P + Fe waters, suggesting multiple limitation of microbial growth rates in the subtropical oligotrophic north-east Atlantic.


2004 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 2941-2951 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvan Bettarel ◽  
Télesphore Sime-Ngando ◽  
Christian Amblard ◽  
John Dolan

ABSTRACT For aquatic systems, especially freshwaters, there is little data on the long-term (i.e., >6-month period) and depth-related variability of viruses. In this study, we examined virus-induced mortality of heterotrophic bacteria over a 10-month period and throughout the water column in two lakes of the French Massif Central, the oligomesotrophic Lake Pavin and the eutrophic Lake Aydat. Concurrently, we estimated nonviral mortality through heterotrophic nanoflagellate and ciliate bacterivory. Overall, viral infection parameters were much less variable than bacterial production. We found that the frequency of visibly infected cells (FVIC), estimated using transmission electron microscopy, peaked in both lakes at the end of spring (May to June) and in early autumn (September to October). FVIC values were significantly higher in Lake Pavin (mean [M] = 1.6%) than in Lake Aydat (M = 1.1%), whereas the opposite trend was observed for burst sizes, which averaged 25.7 and 30.2 virus particles bacterium−1, respectively. We detected no significant depth-related differences in FVIC or burst size. We found that in both lakes the removal of bacterial production by flagellate grazing (MPavin = 37.7%, MAydat = 18.5%) was nearly always more than the production removed by viral lysis (MPavin = 16.2%, MAydat = 19%) or ciliate grazing (MPavin = 2.7%, MAydat = 8.8%). However, at specific times and locations, viral lysis prevailed over protistan grazing, for example, in the anoxic hypolimnion of Lake Aydat. In addition, viral mortality represented a relatively constant mortality source in a bacterial community showing large variations in growth rate and subject to large variations in loss rates from grazers. Finally, although viruses did not represent the main agent of bacterial mortality, our data seem to show that their relative importance was higher in the less productive system.


2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 833-845 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Van Wambeke ◽  
S. Bonnet ◽  
T. Moutin ◽  
P. Raimbault ◽  
G. Alarcón ◽  
...  

Abstract. The role of potential factors limiting bacterial growth was investigated along vertical and longitudinal gradients across the South Eastern Pacific Gyre. The effects of glucose, nitrate, ammonium and phosphate additions on heterotrophic bacterial production (using leucine technique) were studied in parallel in unfiltered seawater samples incubated under natural daily irradiance. The enrichments realized on the subsurface showed three types of responses. From 141° W (Marquesas plateau) to approx 125° W, bacteria were not bottom-up controlled, as confirmed by the huge potential of growth in non-enriched seawater (median of enhancement factor×39 in 24 h). Within the Gyre (125° W–95° W), nitrogen alone stimulated leucine incorporation rates (median×4.2), but rapidly labile carbon (glucose) became a second limiting factor (median×37) when the two elements were added. Finally from the border of the gyre to the Chilean upwelling (95° W–73° W), labile carbon was the only factor stimulating heterotrophic bacterial production. Interaction between phytoplankton and heterotrophic bacterial communities and the direct versus indirect effect of iron and macronutrients on bacterial production were also investigated in four selected sites: two sites on the vicinity of the Marquesas plateau, the centre of the gyre and the Eastern border of the gyre. Both phytoplankton and heterotrophic bacteria were limited by availability of nitrogen within the gyre, but not by iron. Iron limited phytoplankton at Marquesas plateau and at the eastern border of the gyre. However 48 h enrichment experiments were not sufficient to show any clear limitation of heterotrophic bacteria within Marquesas plateau and showed a limitation of these organisms by labile carbon in the eastern border of the Gyre.


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 3187-3202 ◽  
Author(s):  
France Van Wambeke ◽  
Ulrike Pfreundt ◽  
Aude Barani ◽  
Hugo Berthelot ◽  
Thierry Moutin ◽  
...  

Abstract. Studies investigating the fate of diazotrophs through the microbial food web are lacking, although N2 fixation can fuel up to 50 % of new production in some oligotrophic oceans. In particular, the role played by heterotrophic prokaryotes in this transfer is largely unknown. In the frame of the VAHINE (VAriability of vertical and tropHIc transfer of diazotroph derived N in the south wEst Pacific) experiment, three replicate large-volume (∼ 50 m3) mesocosms were deployed for 23 days in the new Caledonia lagoon and were intentionally fertilized on day 4 with dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) to stimulate N2 fixation. We specifically examined relationships between heterotrophic bacterial production (BP) and N2 fixation or primary production, determined bacterial growth efficiency and established carbon budgets. BP was statistically higher during the second phase of the experiment (P2: days 15–23), when chlorophyll biomass started to increase compared to the first phase (P1: days 5–14). Phosphatase alkaline activity increased drastically during the second phase of the experiment, showing adaptations of microbial populations after utilization of the added DIP. Notably, among autotrophs, Synechococcus abundances increased during P2, possibly related to its capacity to assimilate leucine and to produce alkaline phosphatase. Bacterial growth efficiency based on the carbon budget (27–43 %), was notably higher than generally cited for oligotrophic environments and discussed in links with the presence of abundant species of bacteria expressing proteorhodopsin. The main fates of gross primary production (particulate + dissolved) were respiration (67 %) and export through sedimentation (17 %). BP was highly correlated with particulate primary production and chlorophyll biomass during both phases of the experiment but was slightly correlated, and only during P2 phase, with N2 fixation rates. Heterotrophic bacterial production was strongly stimulated after mineral N enrichment experiments, suggesting N-limitation of heterotrophic bacteria across the experiment. N2 fixation rates corresponded to 17–37 % of the nitrogen demand of heterotrophic bacteria. Our results suggest that most of the diazotroph-derived nitrogen fuelled the heterotrophic bacterial community through indirect processes generating dissolved organic matter and detritus, like mortality, lysis and grazing of both diazotrophs and non-diazotrophs.


2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 3799-3828 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Van Wambeke ◽  
S. Bonnet ◽  
T. Moutin ◽  
P. Raimbault ◽  
G. Alarçon ◽  
...  

Abstract. The role of potential factors limiting bacterial growth was investigated along vertical and longitudinal gradients across the South Eastern Pacific Gyre. The effects of glucose, nitrate, ammonium and phosphate additions on heterotrophic bacterial production (using leucine technique) were studied in parallel in unfiltered seawater samples incubated under natural daily irradiance. Longitudinally, the enrichments realized on the subsurface showed three types of responses. From the Marquesas plateau (8° W to approx 125° W), bacteria were not bottom-up controlled, as confirmed by the huge potential of growth in non-enriched seawater (43±24 times in 24 h). Within the Gyre (125° W–95° W), nitrogen alone stimulated leucine incorporation rates by a factor of 5.6±3.6, but rapidly labile carbon (glucose) became a second limiting factor (enhancement factor 49±32 when the two elements were added). Finally from the border of the gyre to the Chilean upwelling (95° W–73° W), labile carbon was the only factor stimulating heterotrophic bacterial production. Interaction between phytoplankton and heterotrophic bacterial communities and the direct versus indirect effect of iron and macronutrients on bacterial production were also investigated in four selected sites: two sites on the vicinity of the Marquesas plateau, the centre of the gyre and the Eastern border of the gyre. Both phytoplankton and heterotrophic bacteria were limited by availability of nitrogen within the gyre, but not by iron. While iron limited phytoplankton at Marquesas plateau and at the eastern border of the gyre, heterotrophic bacteria were only limited by availability of labile DOC in those environments.


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