Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 2 February 1979:
Vol. 203. no. 4379, pp. 451 - 453
DOI: 10.1126/science.203.4379.451
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Occurrence and Metabolic Activity of Organisms Under the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica, at Station J9

F. AZAM 1, J. R. BEERS 1, L. CAMPBELL 1, A. F. CARLUCCI 1, O. HOLM-HANSEN 1, F. M. H. REID 1, and D. M. KARL 2

1 Institute of Marine Resources, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla 92093
2 Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii, Honolulu 96822

Seawater samples below the Ross Ice Shelf were collected through an access hole at J9, approximately 400 kilometers from the Ross Sea, Antarctica. The 237-meter water column had sparse populations of bacteria (8.7 x 106 to 1.2 x 107 per liter), microplankters (102 to 103 per cubic meter), and zooplankters (10 to 20 per cubic meter) at the depths studied. Microbial biomass estimates from cellular adenosine 5'-triphosphate measurements were very low (10 to 150 nanograms of carbon per liter), comparable with values for the abyssal ocean. Microbial populations assimilated tritiated D-glucose, thymidine, uridine, and adenosine triphosphate at extremely low rates, comparable with deep-sea heterotrophic populations. Sediment samples had 107 to 108 bacteria per gram (dry weight), which were metabolically active as shown by respiration of uniformly labeled D-[14C]glucose. From this study it cannot be determined whether these organisms in the water column and sediments constitute a functioning food web.

Submitted on July 31, 1978
Revised on October 4, 1978


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Microorganisms in the Accreted Ice of Lake Vostok, Antarctica.
D. M. Karl, D. F. Bird, K. Björkman, T. Houlihan, R. Shackelford, and L. Tupas (1999)
Science 286, 2144-2147
   Abstract »    Full Text »
The Ross Ice Shelf Project.
J. W. Clough, J. W. CLOUGH, and B. L. HANSEN (1979)
Science 203, 433-434
   Abstract »    PDF »
Life Below the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica.
J. H. Lipps, J. H. LiPPS, T. E. RONAN JR., and T. E. DELACA (1979)
Science 203, 447-449
   Abstract »    PDF »
Fish, Crustaceans, and the Sea Floor Under the Ross Ice Shelf.
P. M. Bruchhausen, P. M. BRUCHHAUSEN, J. A. RAYMOND, S. S. JACOBS, A. L. DEVRIES, E. M. THORNDIKE, and H. H. DEWITT (1979)
Science 203, 449-451
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)