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Microheterotrophic Activity in a Salt‐Marsh Estuary, Sapelo Island, Georgia
Author(s) -
Hanson Roger B.,
Synder James
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1936472
Subject(s) - estuary , glycolic acid , lactic acid , alanine , aspartic acid , nutrient , plankton , salt marsh , chemistry , amino acid , fraction (chemistry) , zoology , environmental chemistry , salinity , biology , food science , biochemistry , ecology , chromatography , bacteria , genetics
Uniformly 1 4C—labelled glucose was used to estimate maximum potential uptake kinetics (W M A X ) in unfractionated and <64 μm, and <10 μm screened water samples. Most of the activity in the estuary was found in the size fraction >10 μm, in the summer, and in the tidal creeks. The uptake (V M A X ) of labelled lactic acid was > glucose > glycolic acid > aspartic acid and alanine. Glycolic acid was respired most rapidly, followed by aspartic acid, lactic acid, alanine and glucose. Most of the particulate organic carbon (POC), adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and platable bacterial cells (CFU) were in the 10 μm fraction. Glucose V M A X values were significantly correlated with ATP and CFU, and lactic acid V M A X values with CFU only. V M A X and turnover times in the unfractionated water were 57% lower and 29% greater, respectively, than in the <64 μm fraction sample, and (K / Sn) values were at times very dissimilar among fractions of the same water. These results were attributed to the physical separation of the plankton community, nutrient fluctuation in the sample, and microheterotroph diversity and distribution on particles.