Out of Thin Air: Microbial Utilization of Atmospheric Gaseous Organics in the Surface Ocean
Type
ArticleKAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) DivisionMarine Science Program
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
Date
2016-01-20Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/597173
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Volatile and semi-volatile gas-phase organic carbon (GOC) is a largely neglected component of the global carbon cycle, with poorly resolved pools and fluxes of natural and anthropogenic GOC in the biosphere. Substantial amounts of atmospheric GOC are exchanged with the surface ocean, and subsequent utilization of specific GOC compounds by surface ocean microbial communities has been demonstrated. Yet, the final fate of the bulk of the atmospheric GOC entering the surface ocean is unknown. Our data show experimental evidence of efficient use of atmospheric GOC by marine prokaryotes at different locations in the NE Subtropical Atlantic, the Arctic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. We estimate that between 2 and 27% of the prokaryotic carbon demand was supported by GOC with a major fraction of GOC inputs being consumed within the mixed layer. The role of the atmosphere as a key vector of organic carbon subsidizing marine microbial metabolism is a novel link yet to be incorporated into the microbial ecology of the surface ocean as well as into the global carbon budget.Citation
Out of Thin Air: Microbial Utilization of Atmospheric Gaseous Organics in the Surface Ocean 2016, 6 Frontiers in MicrobiologySponsors
We thank the Commander and crew of the BIO Hespérides and the personnel of the Marine Technology Unit of CSIC (UTM) for their invaluable support. The authors thank P.J. le B. Williams for his thoughtful comments on an early version of this manuscript.Publisher
Frontiers Media SAJournal
Frontiers in MicrobiologyPubMed ID
26834717ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.3389/fmicb.2015.01566
Scopus Count
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