Growth rates of different phylogenetic bacterioplankton groups in a coastal upwelling system

10 páginas, 5 figuras, 1 tabla Microbial degradation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in planktonic ecosystems is carried out by diverse prokaryotic communities, whose growth rates and patterns of DOM utilization modulate carbon and nutrient biogeochemical cycles at local and global scales. Nine di...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental Microbiology Reports
Main Authors: Teira, Eva, Martínez-García, Sandra, Lonborg, Ch., Álvarez-Salgado, Xosé Antón
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Blackwell Publishing 2009
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Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/49161
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-2229.2009.00079.x
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Summary:10 páginas, 5 figuras, 1 tabla Microbial degradation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in planktonic ecosystems is carried out by diverse prokaryotic communities, whose growth rates and patterns of DOM utilization modulate carbon and nutrient biogeochemical cycles at local and global scales. Nine dilution experiments (September 2007 to June 2008) were conducted with surface water from the highly productive coastal upwelling system of the Ría de Vigo (NW Iberian Peninsula) to estimate bacterial growth rates of six relevant marine bacterial groups: Roseobacter, SAR11, Betaproteobacteria,Gammaproteobacteria, SAR86 and Bacteroidetes. Surprisingly, SAR11 dominated over the other bacterial groups in autumn, likely associated to the entry of nutrient-rich, DOC-poor Eastern North Atlantic Central Water (ENACW) into the embayment. Roseobacter and SAR11 showed significantly opposing growth characteristics. SAR11 consistently grows at low rates (range 0.19–0.71 day−1), while Roseobacter has a high growth potential (range 0.70–1.64 day−1). In contrast, Betaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, SAR86 and Gammaproteobacteria growth rates widely varied among experiments. Regardless of such temporal variability, mean SAR86 growth rate (range 0.1–1.4 day−1) was significantly lower than that of Gammaproteobacteria (range 0.3–2.1 day−1). Whereas the relative abundance of different bacterial groups showed strong correlations with several environmental variables, group-specific bacterial growth rates did not co-vary with ambient conditions. Our results suggest that different bacterial groups exhibit characteristic growth rates, and, consequently, distinct competitive abilities to succeed under contrasting environmental conditions This study was funded by a fellowship to C.L. from the Early Stage Training site ECOSUMMER (MEST-CT-2004- 0205019). S.M.-G. was founded by a FPU-MEC fellowship. E.T. was founded by a Ramón y Cajal-MEC contract Peer reviewed