Open this publication in new window or tab >>2010 (English)In: Microbial Ecology, ISSN 0095-3628, E-ISSN 1432-184X, Vol. 60, no 3, p. 572-580Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
In the Gulf of Bothnia, northern Baltic Sea, a large freshwater inflow creates north-southerly gradients in physico-chemical and biological factors across the two sub-basins, the Bothnian Bay (BB) and the Bothnian Sea. In particular, the sub-basins differ in nutrient limitation (nitrogen vs. phosphorus; P). Since viruses are rich in P, and virus production is commonly connected with bacterial abundance and growth, we hypothesized that the role of viral lysis differs between the sub-basins. Thus, we examined virus production and the potential importance of lysate recycling in surface waters along a transect in the Gulf of Bothnia. Surprisingly, virus production and total P were negatively correlated. In the BB, virus production rates were double those elsewhere in the system, although bacterial abundance and production were the lowest. In the BB, virus-mediated cell lysates could account for 70-180% and 100-250% of the bacterial carbon and P demand, respectively, while only 4-15% and 8-21% at the other stations. Low concentrations of dissolved DNA (D-DNA) with a high proportion of encapsulated DNA (viruses) in the BB suggested rapid turnover and high uptake of free DNA. The correlation of D-DNA and total P indicates that D-DNA is a particularly important nutrient source in the P-limited BB. Our study demonstrates large and counterintuitive differences in virus-mediated recycling of carbon and nutrients in two basins of the Gulf of Bothnia, which differ in microbial community composition and nutrient limitation.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
SPRINGER, 2010
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-140775 (URN)10.1007/s00248-010-9668-8 (DOI)000282971400010 ()20407893 (PubMedID)
2017-10-192017-10-192018-06-09