Small-scale distribution of microbes and biogeochemistry in the Great Barrier Reef

PeerJ

article

Cátia Carreira¹  Júlia Porto Silva Carvalho²  Samantha Talbot³  Isabel Pereira⁴  Christian Lønborg³ 

[1] Department of Biology & CESAM –The Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro;Departamento de Oceanografia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco;Australian Institute of Marine Science;Department of Mathematic & CIDMA - Center for Research and Development in Mathematics and Applications, University of Aveiro;Section for Applied Marine Ecology and Modelling, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University

关键词: Small-scale;    Spatial;    Temporal;    Bacteria;    Virus;    Chlorophyll a;    Dissolved organic carbon;    Nutrients;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.10049

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Microbial communities distribute heterogeneously at small-scales (mm-cm) due to physical, chemical and biological processes. To understand microbial processes and functions it is necessary to appreciate microbes and matter at small scales, however, few studies have determined microbial, viral, and biogeochemical distribution over space and time at these scales. In this study, the small-scale spatial and temporal distribution of microbes (bacteria and chlorophyll a), viruses, dissolved inorganic nutrients and dissolved organic carbon were determined at five locations (spatial) along the Great Barrier Reef (Australia), and over 4 consecutive days (temporal) at a coastal location. Our results show that: (1) the parameters show high small-scale heterogeneity; (2) none of the parameters measured explained the bacterial abundance distributions at these scales spatially or temporally; (3) chemical (ammonium, nitrate/nitrite, phosphate, dissolved organic carbon, and total dissolved nitrogen) and biological (chl a, and bacterial and viral abundances) measurements did not reveal significant relationships at the small scale; and (4) statistically significant differences were found between sites/days for all parameter measured but without a clear pattern.

【 授权许可】

CC BY