Abstract
Zooplankton faecal pellets are important in the vertical transport and exchange of elements in the oceanic ecosystem1,2. Although microbial, and in particular bacterial, processes have been implicated in the decomposition of aquatic faecal pellets3–7, few quantitative data exist on the metabolic activities and growth characteristics of the associated microorganisms. As part of the Vertex (Vertical Transport and Exchange) programme, we studied these aspects using field-collected faecal pellets of known source and age. Our results, reported here, show that microbial biomass and metabolic activity are highest at the time of egestion, and decline with subsequent incubation. An independent observation from these experiments was the detection of bioluminescence in freshly excreted faecal pellets and in materials collected from sediment traps. These field data support an existing model for the ecological role of bacterial light emission in the mesopelagic zone of the ocean.
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Andrews, C., Karl, D., Small, L. et al. Metabolic activity and bioluminescence of oceanic faecal pellets and sediment trap particles. Nature 307, 539–541 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/307539a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/307539a0
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