Seawater carbonate chemistry, virioplankton and bacterioplankton in a shallow CO2-dominated hydrothermal vent (Panarea Island, Tyrrhenian Sea)

• Main Authors: Karuza, Ana, Celussi, Mauro, Cibic, Tamara, Del Negro, Paola, De Vittor, Cinzia
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2012
• Subjects: Alkalinity; total; Aragonite saturation state; Bicarbonate ion; Biomass/Abundance/Elemental composition; Calcite saturation state; Calculated; see reference(s); Calculated using CO2SYS; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010); Carbon; inorganic; dissolved; organic; Carbonate ion; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; CO2 vent; Coast and continental shelf; Community composition and diversity; Density; DEPTH; water; Entire community; Epifluorescence microscopy; EPOCA; EUR-OCEANS; European network of excellence for Ocean Ecosystems Analysis; European Project on Ocean Acidification; Field observation; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Identification; Infrared spectroscopy; LATITUDE; LONGITUDE; Mediterranean Sea; OA-ICC; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre; Oxygen saturation; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Pelagos; pH; Prokaryotes; standard deviation; Salinity; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.778196; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.778196

Gas hydrothermal vents are used as a natural analogue for studying the effects of CO2 leakage from hypothetical shallow marine storage sites on benthic and pelagic systems. This study investigated the interrelationships between planktonic prokaryotes and viruses in the Panarea Islands hydrothermal system (southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy), especially their abundance, distribution and diversity. No difference in prokaryotic abundance was shown between high-CO2 and control sites. The community structure displayed differences between fumarolic field and the control, and between surface and bottom waters, the latter likely due to the presence of different water masses. Bacterial assemblages were qualitatively dominated by chemo- and photoautotrophic organisms, able to utilise both CO2 and H2S for their metabolic requirements. From significantly lower virioplankton abundance in the proximity of the exhalative area together with particularly low Virus-to-Prokaryotes Ratio, we inferred a reduced impact on prokaryotic abundance and proliferation. Even if the fate of viruses in this particular condition remains still unknown, we consider that lower viral abundance could reflect in enhancing the energy flow to higher trophic levels, thus largely influencing the overall functioning of the system.