Bacterivory by phototrophic picoplankton and nanoplankton in Arctic waters

• Published in: FEMS Microbiology Ecology
• Main Authors: Sanders, Robert W., Gast, Rebecca J.
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Arctic Ocean; DGGE; Mixotrophy; Phytoflagellates; Picoeukaryotes; Arctic; Canada; Beaufort Sea; canada basin
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1912/5601

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2011. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of John Wiley & Sons for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in FEMS Microbiology Ecology 82 (2012): 242–253, doi:10.1111/j.1574-6941.2011.01253.x. Mixotrophy, the combination of phototrophy and heterotrophy within the same individual, is widespread in oceanic systems. Yet, neither the presence nor ecological impact of mixotrophs has been identified in an Arctic marine environment. We quantified nano- and picoplankton during early autumn in the Beaufort Sea and Canada Basin and determined relative rates of bacterivory by heterotrophs and mixotrophs. Results confirmed previous reports of low microbial biomass for Arctic communities in autumn. The impact of bacterivory was relatively low, ranging from 0.6 x 103 to 42.8 x 103 bacteria mL-1 day-1, but it was often dominated by pico- or nano-mixotrophs. From 1-7% of the photosynthetic picoeukaryotes were bacterivorous, while mixotrophic nanoplankton abundance comprised 1-22% of the heterotrophic and 2-32% of the phototrophic nanoplankton abundance, respectively. The estimated daily grazing impact was usually < 5% of the bacterial standing stock, but impacts as high as 25% occurred. Analysis of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis band patterns indicated that communities from different depths at the same site were appreciably different, and that there was a shift in community diversity at the midpoint of the cruise. Sequence information from DGGE bands reflected microbes related to ones from other Arctic studies, particularly from the Beaufort Sea. Funding for participation in the 2008 cruise was provided by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Arctic Research Initiative, with additional support from National Science Foundation Grants OPP-0838847 (RWS) and OPP-0838955 (RJG).