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Resource quantity affects benthic microbial community structure and growth efficiency in a temperate intertidal mudflat

Resource quantity affects benthic microbial community structure and growth efficiency in a temperate intertidal mudflat
Resource quantity affects benthic microbial community structure and growth efficiency in a temperate intertidal mudflat
Estuaries cover <1% of marine habitats, but the carbon dioxide (CO2) effluxes from these net heterotrophic systems contribute significantly to the global carbon cycle. Anthropogenic eutrophication of estuarine waterways increases the supply of labile substrates to the underlying sediments. How such changes affect the form and functioning of the resident microbial communities remains unclear. We employed a carbon-13 pulse-chase experiment to investigate how a temperate estuarine benthic microbial community at 6.5°C responded to additions of marine diatom-derived organic carbon equivalent to 4.16, 41.60 and 416.00 mmol C m?2. The quantities of carbon mineralized and incorporated into bacterial biomass both increased significantly, albeit differentially, with resource supply. This resulted in bacterial growth efficiency increasing from 0.40±0.02 to 0.55±0.04 as substrates became more available. The proportions of diatom-derived carbon incorporated into individual microbial membrane fatty acids also varied with resource supply. Future increases in labile organic substrate supply have the potential to increase both the proportion of organic carbon being retained within the benthic compartment of estuaries and also the absolute quantity of CO2 outgassing from these environments.
1932-6203
e38582
Mayor, Daniel J.
a2a9c29e-ffdc-4858-ad65-3a235824a4c9
Thornton, Barry
6aa3e893-d436-4656-9dec-d47ce9d25219
Zuur, Alain F.
5d65336f-0f72-4ea4-aad2-b1d343267ae0
Mayor, Daniel J.
a2a9c29e-ffdc-4858-ad65-3a235824a4c9
Thornton, Barry
6aa3e893-d436-4656-9dec-d47ce9d25219
Zuur, Alain F.
5d65336f-0f72-4ea4-aad2-b1d343267ae0

Mayor, Daniel J., Thornton, Barry and Zuur, Alain F. (2012) Resource quantity affects benthic microbial community structure and growth efficiency in a temperate intertidal mudflat. PLoS ONE, 7 (6), e38582. (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0038582).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Estuaries cover <1% of marine habitats, but the carbon dioxide (CO2) effluxes from these net heterotrophic systems contribute significantly to the global carbon cycle. Anthropogenic eutrophication of estuarine waterways increases the supply of labile substrates to the underlying sediments. How such changes affect the form and functioning of the resident microbial communities remains unclear. We employed a carbon-13 pulse-chase experiment to investigate how a temperate estuarine benthic microbial community at 6.5°C responded to additions of marine diatom-derived organic carbon equivalent to 4.16, 41.60 and 416.00 mmol C m?2. The quantities of carbon mineralized and incorporated into bacterial biomass both increased significantly, albeit differentially, with resource supply. This resulted in bacterial growth efficiency increasing from 0.40±0.02 to 0.55±0.04 as substrates became more available. The proportions of diatom-derived carbon incorporated into individual microbial membrane fatty acids also varied with resource supply. Future increases in labile organic substrate supply have the potential to increase both the proportion of organic carbon being retained within the benthic compartment of estuaries and also the absolute quantity of CO2 outgassing from these environments.

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Published date: June 2012
Organisations: Marine Biogeochemistry

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 380725
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/380725
ISSN: 1932-6203
PURE UUID: 8279d8a1-bc78-4d54-a649-df5d823af0ca

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Date deposited: 19 Aug 2015 10:32
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 21:03

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Contributors

Author: Daniel J. Mayor
Author: Barry Thornton
Author: Alain F. Zuur

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