Dynamics of bacterial community composition and activity during a mesocosm diatom bloom.

ABSTRACT: Bacterial community composition, enzymatic activities, and carbon dynamics were examined during diatom blooms in four 200-liter laboratory seawater mesocosms. The objective was to determine whether the dramatic shifts in growth rates and ectoenzyme activities, which are commonly observed during the course of phytoplankton blooms and their subsequent demise, could result from shifts in bacterial community composition. Nutrient enrichment of metazoan-free seawater resulted in diatom blooms dominated by a Thalassiosira sp., which peaked 9 days after enrichment ( approximately 24 microg of chlorophyll a liter(-1)). At this time bacterial abundance abruptly decreased from 2.8 x 10(6) to 0.75 x 10(6) ml(-1), and an analysis of bacterial community composition, by denaturing gradient gel electroph

SUBMITTER: Riemann L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC91866 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature