Energetic differences between bacterioplankton trophic groups and coral reef resistance.

ABSTRACT: Coral reefs are among the most productive and diverse marine ecosystems on the Earth. They are also particularly sensitive to changing energetic requirements by different trophic levels. Microbialization specifically refers to the increase in the energetic metabolic demands of microbes relative to macrobes and is significantly correlated with increasing human influence on coral reefs. In this study, metabolic theory of ecology is used to quantify the relative contributions of two broad bacterioplankton groups, autotrophs and heterotrophs, to energy flux on 27 Pacific coral reef ecosystems experiencing human impact to varying degrees. The effective activation energy required for photosynthesis is lower than the average energy of activation for the biochemical reactions of the Krebs cycle, a

SUBMITTER: McDole Somera T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4855391 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature