Microbial community composition and function in permanently cold seawater and sediments from an arctic fjord of svalbard.

ABSTRACT: Heterotrophic microbial communities in seawater and sediments metabolize much of the organic carbon produced in the ocean. Although carbon cycling and preservation depend critically on the capabilities of these microbial communities, their compositions and capabilities have seldom been examined simultaneously at the same site. To compare the abilities of seawater and sedimentary microbial communities to initiate organic matter degradation, we measured the extracellular enzymatic hydrolysis rates of 10 substrates (polysaccharides and algal extracts) in surface seawater and bottom water as well as in surface and anoxic sediments of an Arctic fjord. Patterns of enzyme activities differed between seawater and sediments, not just quantitatively, in accordance with higher cell numbers in sedimen

SUBMITTER: Teske A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3067321 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature