Biogeochemistry and microbial community composition in sea ice and underlying seawater off East Antarctica during early spring

Pack ice, brines and seawaters were sampled inOctober 2003 in the East Antarctic sector to investigate thestructure of the microbial communities (algae, bacteria andprotozoa) in relation to the associated physico-chemicalconditions (ice structure, temperature, salinity, inorganicnutrients, chlorophy...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar Biology
Main Authors: Becquevort, S, Dumont, I, Tison, JL, Lannuzel, D, Sauvee, ML, Chou, L, Schoemann, V
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Springer-Verlag 2009
Subjects:
Environmental Sciences
Ecological applications
Ecosystem function
Antarctic
East Antarctica
Antarc*
Antarctica
Polar Biology
Sea ice
Online Access:http://www.springerlink.com
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-009-0589-2
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/62628
Description
Summary:Pack ice, brines and seawaters were sampled inOctober 2003 in the East Antarctic sector to investigate thestructure of the microbial communities (algae, bacteria andprotozoa) in relation to the associated physico-chemicalconditions (ice structure, temperature, salinity, inorganicnutrients, chlorophyll a and organic matter). Ice coverranged between 0.3 and 0.8 m, composed of granular andcolumnar ice. The brine volume fractions sharply increasedabove -4C in the bottom ice, coinciding with an importantincrease of algal biomass (up to 3.9 mg C l-1),suggesting a control of the algae growth by the spaceavailability at that period of time. Large accumulation ofNH4? and PO43- was observed in the bottom ice. The highpool of organic matter, especially of transparent exopolymericparticles, likely led to nutrients retention andlimitation of the protozoa grazing pressure, inducingtherefore an algal accumulation. In contrast, the heterotrophsdominated in the underlying seawaters.

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