Eukaryotic community composition in the sea surface microlayer across an east–west transect in the Mediterranean Sea

The sea surface microlayer (SML) represents the boundary layer at the air–sea interface. Microbial eukaryotes in the SML potentially influence air–sea gas exchange directly by taking up and producing gases and indirectly by excreting and degrading organic matter, which may modify the viscoelastic properties of the SML. However, little is known about the distribution of microbial eukaryotes in the SML. We studied the composition of the microbial community, transparent exopolymer particles and polysaccharides in the SML during the PEACETIME cruise along a west–east transect in the Mediterranean Sea, covering the western basin, Tyrrhenian Sea and Ionian Sea. At the stations located in the Ionian Sea, fungi – likely of continental origin and delivered by atmospheric deposition – were found in high relative abundances, making up a significant proportion of the sequences recovered. Concomitantly, bacterial and picophytoplankton counts decreased from west to east, while transparent exopolymer particle (TEP) abundance and total carbohydrate (TCHO) concentrations remained constant in all basins. Our results suggest that the presence of substrates for fungi, such as Cladosporium, known to take up phytoplankton-derived polysaccharides, in combination with decreased substrate competition by bacteria, might favor fungal dominance in the neuston of the Ionian Sea and other low-nutrient, low-chlorophyll (LNLC) regions

Bacterial communities associated with individual transparent exopolymer particles (TEP)

Transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) are polysaccharide-rich microgels that are prevalent in the marine environment and have important roles in the aggregation of organic matter and carbon export from the euphotic zone. TEP are readily colonized by bacteria and utilized by specialized taxa, such as Alteromonadaceae. However, bacterial community composition specifically attached to natural TEP remains largely unknown. In this study, we isolated individual TEP from Plymouth Sound (UK) and performed DNA sequencing of the TEP-attached bacterial communities. We also sampled the cognate bulk seawater total bacterial communities for comparison. The bacterial communities associated with individual TEP showed distinct differences compared to the total bulk bacterioplankton communities, with Alteromonadaceae significantly more abundant on TEP. The TEP-associated Alteromonadaceae consisted of two operational taxonomic units that were closely related to Marinobacter and Glaciecola, both previously associated with biogenic aggregates and microgel-rich habitats. This study provides novel insight into marine bacterial–microgel interactions

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle in the Arctic Ocean With the Power of Microbes

Did you know that microbes, too small for the human eye to see, far outnumber and outweigh all animals? Microbes that live in the Arctic carry out a surprising variety of roles recycling food. Despite the cold temperatures, Arctic waters are nutrient rich, which allows a type of microbe called single-celled algae to grow in huge numbers. Only cold-adapted microbes can survive though in waters that sometimes reach temperatures even below freezing! Microscopic algae use carbon dioxide (CO2) and the sun’s energy to grow, helping to reduce levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. Microscopic animals called zooplankton eat smaller microbes. All microbes excrete waste and eventually die. The resulting products are not wasted, though. Other microbes called bacteria and fungi are expert recyclers and break down the dead organisms to more basic forms of chemical energy that are reused by single-celled algae and other microbes

Variations of microbial communities and substrate regimes in the eastern Fram Strait between summer and fall

Seasonal variations in day length and temperature, in combination with dynamic factors such as advection from the North Atlantic, influence primary production and the microbial loop in the Fram Strait. Here, we investigated the seasonal variability of biopolymers, microbial abundance and microbial composition within the upper 100 m during summer and fall. Flow cytometry revealed a shift in the autotrophic community from picoeukaryotes dominating in summer to a 34-fold increase of Synechococcus by fall. Furthermore, a significant decline in biopolymers concentrations covaried with increasing microbial diversity based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing along with a community shift towards fewer polymer-degrading genera in fall. The seasonal succession in the biopolymer pool and microbes indicates distinct metabolic regimes, with a higher relative abundance of polysaccharide-degrading genera in summer and a higher relative abundance of common taxa in fall. The parallel analysis of DOM and microbial diversity provides an important baseline for microbe–substrate relationships over the seasonal cycle in the Arctic Ocean

Persistence and dispersal of microbial populations in subsurface marine sediments

Microbial subsurface sediments have been shown to remineralize up to 90 % of the inorganic carbon that is deposited on the sediment surface and slowly buried with time (Jorgensen et al., 2012) indicating the significance of the subsurface microbial community. Little is known however on the community assembly of these microbial communities found in the deep biosphere. Four possible influences have been suggested: Selection, diversification, dispersal and drift (Nemergut et al., 2013). In this study the effect of selection as well as diversification on the community assembly was analysed with regard to the role that the bioturbation zone plays as harbouring a ‘seed’ community for the subsurface microbial community. The microbial community of Aarhus Bay station M5 was quantified using qPCR and cell counts. A drop in cell counts in the surface sediment (first 8 cm) was observed with both methods which corresponds to the end of the bioturbation zone. The cell abundance below the bioturbation zone showed less variance. The community composition was analysed with 16S rRNA gene sequencing showing that Proteobacteria dominate the bioturbated zone but decrease in their abundance rapidly in the sediment below. In contrast, Chloroflexi, Planctomycetes and Candidate division OP9 increased in their importance on the community composition below the bioturbation zone. The bottom of the bioturbation zone (7 cm) showed the most pronounced change in the community composition compared to the surface sediment. Below 7 cm, the change of the microbial community composition is gradual, suggesting that the microbial community at the bottom of the bioturbation zone acts as ‘seed’ community for the subsurface microbial community. The decrease in less adapted species (Proteobacteria) to the different geochemical zones and the energy-limited subsurface sediment in combination with an increase in better adapted species (Chloroflexi, Planctomycetes, Candidate division OP9) points towards selection playing a major role in the community assembly of the deep biosphere. The fraction of motile cells of the total community has been analysed using needles filled with pore water that were incubated in sediment from Aarhus Bay station M5 and Marselisborg Havn. Motile cells only made up about 1.8 % of the microbial community in the surface sediment, decreasing in importance to about 0.2 % at 50 cm sediment depth. This suggests a rather small influence of dispersal on the community composition

Impact of dust addition on the metabolism of Mediterranean plankton communities and carbon export under present and future conditions of pH and temperature

Although atmospheric dust fluxes from arid as well as human-impacted areas represent a significant source of nutrients to surface waters of the Mediterranean Sea, studies focusing on the evolution of the metabolic balance of the plankton community following a dust deposition event are scarce, and none were conducted in the context of projected future levels of temperature and pH. Moreover, most of the experiments took place in coastal areas. In the framework of the PEACETIME project, three dust-addition perturbation experiments were conducted in 300 L tanks filled with surface seawater collected in the Tyrrhenian Sea (TYR), Ionian Sea (ION) and Algerian basin (FAST) on board the R/V Pourquoi Pas? in late spring 2017. For each experiment, six tanks were used to follow the evolution of chemical and biological stocks, biological activity and particle export. The impacts of a dust deposition event simulated at their surface were followed under present environmental conditions and under a realistic climate change scenario for 2100 (ca. +3 ∘C and −0.3 pH units). The tested waters were all typical of stratified oligotrophic conditions encountered in the open Mediterranean Sea at this period of the year, with low rates of primary production and a metabolic balance towards net heterotrophy. The release of nutrients after dust seeding had very contrasting impacts on the metabolism of the communities, depending on the station investigated. At TYR, the release of new nutrients was followed by a negative impact on both particulate and dissolved 14C-based production rates, while heterotrophic bacterial production strongly increased, driving the community to an even more heterotrophic state. At ION and FAST, the efficiency of organic matter export due to mineral/organic aggregation processes was lower than at TYR and likely related to a lower quantity/age of dissolved organic matter present at the time of the seeding and a smaller production of DOM following dust addition. This was also reflected by lower initial concentrations in transparent exopolymer particles (TEPs) and a lower increase in TEP concentrations following the dust addition, as compared to TYR. At ION and FAST, both the autotrophic and heterotrophic community benefited from dust addition, with a stronger relative increase in autotrophic processes observed at FAST. Our study showed that the potential positive impact of dust deposition on primary production depends on the initial composition and metabolic state of the investigated community. This impact is constrained by the quantity of nutrients added in order to sustain both the fast response of heterotrophic prokaryotes and the delayed one of primary producers. Finally, under future environmental conditions, heterotrophic metabolism was overall more impacted than primary production, with the consequence that all integrated net community production rates decreased with no detectable impact on carbon export, therefore reducing the capacity of surface waters to sequester anthropogenic CO2

Marine isoprene production and consumption in the mixed layer of the surface ocean – a field study over two oceanic regions

Parameterizations of surface ocean isoprene concentrations are numerous, despite the lack of source/sink process understanding. Here we present isoprene and related field measurements in the mixed layer from the Indian Ocean and the eastern Pacific Ocean to investigate the production and consumption rates in two contrasting regions, namely oligotrophic open ocean and the coastal upwelling region. Our data show that the ability of different phytoplankton functional types (PFTs) to produce isoprene seems to be mainly influenced by light, ocean temperature, and salinity. Our field measurements also demonstrate that nutrient availability seems to have a direct influence on the isoprene production. With the help of pigment data, we calculate in-field isoprene production rates for different PFTs under varying biogeochemical and physical conditions. Using these new calculated production rates, we demonstrate that an additional significant and variable loss, besides a known chemical loss and a loss due to air–sea gas exchange, is needed to explain the measured isoprene concentration. We hypothesize that this loss, with a lifetime for isoprene between 10 and 100 days depending on the ocean region, is potentially due to degradation or consumption by bacteria

Spatial patterns of ectoenzymatic kinetics in relation to biogeochemical properties in the Mediterranean Sea and the concentration of the fluorogenic substrate used

Ectoenzymatic activity, prokaryotic heterotrophic abundances and production were determined in the Mediterranean Sea. Sampling was carried out in the sub-surface, the deep chlorophyll maximum layer (DCM), the core of the Levantine intermediate waters and in the deeper part of the mesopelagic layers. Michaelis–Menten kinetics were assessed using a large range of concentrations of fluorogenic substrates (0.025 to 50 µM). As a consequence, Km (Michaelis–Menten half-saturation constant) and Vm (maximum hydrolysis velocity) parameters were determined for both low- and high-affinity enzymes for alkaline phosphatase, aminopeptidase (LAP) and β-glucosidase (βGLU). Based on the constant derived from the high-LAP-affinity enzyme (0.025–1 µM substrate concentration range), in situ hydrolysis of N proteins contributed 48 % ± 30 % to the heterotrophic bacterial nitrogen demand within the epipelagic layers and 180 % ± 154 % in the Levantine intermediate waters and the upper part of the mesopelagic layers. The LAP hydrolysis rate was higher than bacterial N demand only within the deeper layer and only when considering the high-affinity enzyme. Based on a 10 % bacterial growth efficiency, the cumulative hydrolysis rates of C proteins and C polysaccharides contributed on average 2.5 % ± 1.3  % to the heterotrophic bacterial carbon demand in the epipelagic layers sampled (sub-surface and DCM). This study clearly reveals potential biases in current and past interpretations of the kinetic parameters for the three enzymes tested based on the fluorogenic-substrate concentration used. In particular, the LAP / βGLU enzymatic ratios and some of the depth-related trends differed between the use of high and low concentrations of fluorogenic substrates

Mediterranean nascent sea spray organic aerosol and relationships with seawater biogeochemistry

International audienceAbstract. The organic mass fraction from sea spray aerosol (SSA) is currently a subject of intense research. The majority of this research is dedicated to measurements in ambient air. However a number of studies have recently started to focus on nascent sea spray aerosol. This work presents measurements collected during a 5-week cruise in May and June 2017 in the central and western Mediterranean Sea, an oligotrophic marine region with low phytoplankton biomass. Surface seawater was continuously pumped into a bubble-bursting apparatus to generate nascent sea spray aerosol. Size distributions were measured with a differential mobility particle sizer (DMPS). Chemical characterization of the submicron aerosol was performed with a time-of- flight aerosol chemical speciation monitor (ToF-ACSM) operating with 10 min time resolution and with filter-based chemical analysis on a daily basis. Using positive matrix factorization analysis, the ToF-ACSM non-refractory organic matter (OMNR) was separated into four different organic aerosol types, identified as primary OA (POANR), oxidizedOA (OOANR), methanesulfonic acid type OA (MSA-OANR), and mixed OA (MOANR). In parallel, surface seawater biogeochemical properties were monitored providing information on phytoplankton cell abundance and seawater particulate organic carbon (1 h time resolution) and seawater surface microlayer (SML) dissolved organic carbon (DOC) (on a daily basis). Statistically robust correlations (for n > 500)were found between MOANR and nanophytoplankton cell abundance, as well as between POANR, OOANR, and particulate organic carbon (POC). Parameterizations of the contributions of different types of organics to the submicron nascent sea spray aerosol are proposed as a function of the seawater biogeochemical properties for use in models