microbialgrowthonsurfaces.ppt

23.9 Open Oceans Compared with most freshwater environments, the open ocean environment is Saline Low nutrient; especially with respect to nitrogen, phosphorus, and iron Cooler Due to the size of the oceans, the microbial activities taking place in them are major factors in the Earth’s carbon balance Nearshore marine waters typically contain higher microbial numbers than the open ocean because of higher nutrient levels Distribution of Chlorophyll in the Western North Atlantic Figure 23.14 Rich in phytoplankton New York Washington, DC Boston Most of the primary productivity in the open oceans is due to photosynthesis by prochlorophyte : Prochlorococcus accounts for 40% of the biomass of marine phototrophs ~50% of the net primary production Prochloroccocus, the Most Abundant Oceanic Phototroph Figure 23.15a FISH-stained cells of Prochlorococcus in marine water sample Cell suspensions of Prochlorococcus The planktonic filamentous cyanobacterium Trichodesmium is an abundant phototroph in tropical and subtropical oceans Small phototrophic eukaryotes, such as Ostreococcus, inhabit coastal and marine waters and are likely important primary producers Chloroplast Small planktonic heterotrophic prokaryotes are abundant (105–106 cells/ml) in pelagic marine waters - The most abundant marine heterotroph is Pelagibacter, an oligotroph * Oligotroph: an organism that grows best at very low nutrient concentrations Pelagibacter ubique Pelagibacter and other marine heterotrophs contain proteorhodopsin, a form of rhodopsin that allows cells to use light energy to drive ATP synthesis Aerobic anoxygenic phototrophs (Citromicrobium) Contain bacteriochlorophyll a Light is used for ATP synthesis via photophosphorylation in the presence of oxygen Another class of marine microbes that use light energy but do not fix carbon dioxide Citromicrobium sp. Divide by both budding and binary fission Prokaryote densities in the open ocean decrease with depth - Surface water