Major role of microbes in carbon fluxes during Austral winter in the Southern Drake Passage.

ABSTRACT: Carbon cycling in Southern Ocean is a major issue in climate change, hence the need to understand the role of biota in the regulation of carbon fixation and cycling. Southern Ocean is a heterogeneous system, characterized by a strong seasonality, due to long dark winter. Yet, currently little is known about biogeochemical dynamics during this season, particularly in the deeper part of the ocean. We studied bacterial communities and processes in summer and winter cruises in the southern Drake Passage. Here we show that in winter, when the primary production is greatly reduced, Bacteria and Archaea become the major producers of biogenic particles, at the expense of dissolved organic carbon drawdown. Heterotrophic production and chemoautotrophic CO(2) fixation rates were substantial, also in

SUBMITTER: Manganelli M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2736376 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature