Bacterioplankton dynamics in the McMurdo Dry Valley Lakes: Production and biomass loss over four seasons

• Main Authors: C. D. Takacs, J. C. Priscu
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1998
• Subjects: Antarctic; Bonney; Fryxell; Hoare; Lake Fryxell; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.465.3646; http://pearl3.unm.edu/site/documents/microecolpub.pdf

Research of the microbial ecology of McMurdo Dry Valley lakes has concentrated primarily on phototrophs; relatively little is known about the heterotrophic bacterioplankton. Bacteria represent a substantial proportion of water column biomass in these lakes, comprising 30 to 60 % of total microplankton biomass. Bacterial production and cell numbers were measured 3 to 5 times, within four Antarctic seasons (October to January), in Lakes Fryxell, Hoare, and Bonney. The winter– spring transition (September to October) was included during one year. Lake Fryxell was the most productive, but variable, lake, followed by Lakes Bonney and Hoare. Bacterial production ranged from 0 to 0.009 µg C ml−1 d−1; bacterial populations ranged from 3.2 × 104 to 4.4 × 107 cells ml−1. Bacterial production was always greatest just below the ice cover at the beginning of the season. A second maximum developed just above the chemocline of all the lakes, as the season progressed. Total bacterioplankton biomass in the lakes decreased as much as 88 % between successive sampling dates in the summer, as evidenced by areal integration of bacterial populations; the largest decreases in biomass typically occurred in mid-December. A forward difference model of bacterial loss in the trophogenic zone and the entire water column of these lakes showed that loss rates in the summer reached 6.3 × 1014 cells m−2 d−1 and 4.16 × 1012 cells m−2 d−1, respectively. These results imply that bacteria may be a source of carbon to higher trophic levels in these lakes, through grazing.