Response of an Antarctic Lake Heterotrophic Community to High Dissolved Oxygen

• Published in: Applied and Environmental Microbiology
• Main Authors: Mikell, Alfred T., Parker, Bruce C., Simmons, George M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Society for Microbiology 1984
• Subjects: Ecology; Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology; Food Science; Biotechnology; Antarctic; Hoare; Hoare Lake; Lake Hoare; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/aem.47.5.1062-1066.1984; https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/aem.47.5.1062-1066.1984

The upper waters of Lake Hoare, Antarctica, contain dissolved oxygen at about three times the normal saturation (≥42 mg liter −1 ). The response of the heterotrophic plankton community to this high dissolved oxygen was evaluated by the criteria of CFU and d -[ U - 14 C]glucose assimilated-respired. High dissolved oxygen was not inhibitory to d -[ U - 14 C]glucose assimilation-respiration compared with normal atmospheric dissolved oxygen in Lake Hoare water. The d -[ U - 14 C]glucose was assimilated and respired optimally at 12°C in Lake Hoare. The d -[ U - 14 C]glucose assimilated-respired in the upper saturated atmospheric dissolved oxygen waters of Mountain Lake, Va., was inhibited in contrast to Lake Hoare ( P < 0.05). CFU formation was inhibited in both lakes. CFU represent <1% of the fluorochrome-stained direct counts in Lake Hoare. Lake Hoare planktobacteria are smaller than the planktobacteria in Mountain Lake. ATP size fractionation revealed that 39% of the ATP biomass was <0.5 μm in Lake Hoare.