Size fractionation of natural aquatic populations associated with autotrophic and heterotrophic carbon uptake

Abstract

Natural phytoplankton samples from the Gulf of California were incubated with radioactive bicarbonate or glucose, with or without the addition of gentamycin, a broad spectrum antibiotic which inhibits bacterial activity but has little effect on many algae. The relative distribution of chlorophyll and radioactivity in particles retained by filters of 3 and 0.45 μ mean pore size was measured. From 13 to 83% of the ¹⁴C-bicarbonate assimilated by natural populations appeared to be associated with organisms having a smallest dimension less than 3 μ. These were probably algae, since the distribution of chlorophyll on the filters was similar to that of the radioactivity. Furthermore, gentamycin treatment did not change the distribution of radioactivity from ¹⁴C-bicarbonate. In these waters, considerable photosynthesis may be carried out by ultra-nannoplankton (3 to 1 μ). Glucose was assimilated mainly by bacteria, of which more than 90% passed through 3 μ filters. Gentamycin significantly reduced glucose uptake in most cases. Although this method cannot be adopted uncritically for the estimation of carbon flux from photoautotrophs to heterotrophs, differential filtration can be used to elucidate the size distribution of various metabolic groups in the plankton.