Regulation of Oceanic Silicon and Carbon Preservation by Temperature Control on Bacteria
Kay D. Bidle,*
Maura Manganelli,
Farooq Azam
We demonstrated in laboratory experiments that temperature control
of marine bacteria action on diatoms strongly influences the coupling
of biogenic silica and organic carbon preservation. Low temperature
intensified the selective regeneration of organic matter by marine
bacteria as the silicon:carbon preservation ratio gradually increased
from ~1 at 33°C to ~6 at -1.8°C. Temperature control of
bacteria-mediated selective preservation of silicon versus carbon
should help to interpret and model the variable coupling of silicon and
carbon sinking fluxes and the spatial patterns of opal accumulation in
oceanic systems with different temperature regimes.
Marine Biology Research Division, Scripps Institution of
Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA
92093-0202, USA.
*
Present address: Institute of Marine and Coastal Science,
Rutgers University, 71 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8521, USA.
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
bidle{at}imcs.rutgers.edu
Present address: ISPESL-DIPIA, National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Prevention, via Fontana Candida, 1, 00040 Monteporzio Catone (RM), Italy.
