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Rapid enhancement of heterotrophic but not photosynthetic activities in Arctic microbial plankton at mesobiotic temperatures

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Summary

Marine microbial plankton from eastern Canadian Arctic waters have the remarkable ability of rapidly accumulating nutrients (amino acids, glucose, phosphate) at mesobiotic temperatures (≈30°C) after an acclimation period of a few hours. Curves of the nutrient uptake response to temperature established before and after an 8 h acclimation period at 30°C showed that maximum uptake rates attained much higher values and were established at much higher temperatures after the acclimation period. This enhancement was inhibited by chloramphenicol (but not cycloheximide) and occurred even when the possibility of bacterial enhancement due to animal and plant death was reduced by prior removal of organisms using a screen of 1 μm nominal pore diameter. The enhancement at high temperatures was evidenced only in heterotrophic but not in photosynthetic activities and was concominant with large increases in the apparent activity of microbial DNA synthesis and bacterial cell density. The enhancement may have been due to a rapid and opportunistic growth of presumed non-psychrophilic members of the bacterioplankton.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Ecology Laboratory, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, B2Y 4A2, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada

    W. K. W. Li & P. M. Dickie

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  1. W. K. W. Li
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  2. P. M. Dickie
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Li, W.K.W., Dickie, P.M. Rapid enhancement of heterotrophic but not photosynthetic activities in Arctic microbial plankton at mesobiotic temperatures. Polar Biol 3, 217–226 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00292626

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00292626

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