New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts
Bacterial abundance and production in different water masses
around South Island, New Zealand
ROB SMITH
National Institute of Water & Atmospheric
Research Ltd
P. O. Box 8602
Christchurch, New Zealand
JULIE HALL
National Institute of Water & Atmospheric
Research Ltd
P. O. Box 11 115
Hamilton, New Zealand
Abstract Bacterial numbers and production were
measured in the upper water column in the winter and spring of 1993 in five
water masses surrounding the South Island of New Zealand. Average bacterial
numbers and production were found to be higher in spring (8.5 x 105
cells ml-1 and 0.20 mg m3 h-1, respectively)
than winter (5.5 x 105 cells ml-1 and 0.05 mg C m3
h-1 respectively). Bacterial production was strongly
correlated with chlorophyll a and primary production (P <
0.001) in spring but not in winter. Spring bacterial production and at 10 m
depth averaged across 28 stations was 23% of primary production, and with a
growth efficency of 40%, may have consumed up to 57% of primary production.
Bacterial biomass was greater than phytoplankton biomass for 75% of the 10 m
depth comparisons during winter sampling and 44% during the spring sampling.
The bacterial biomass was found to represent 24.6-33.5% of the nitrogen in
particulate organic matter (<200 um) supporting the concept that in New
Zealand oceanic water masses bacteria are of significant biogeochemical
importance.
Keywords bacteria abundance; bacterial production; tritiated
thymidine; subtropical convergence
New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1997, Vol. 31:
515-524
0028-8330/97/3104-0515 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand
1997
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (909K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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