Biological, physical, and chemical data collected from inshore and shelf surface waters in Alabama from 2009-07 to 2011-12 (NCEI Accession 0117507)
Quantifying the linkages between primary production and higher trophic levels is necessary to understand why particular regions can support high fisheries production. Modified dilution experiments were employed to characterize microbial communities in surface waters at four sites from within a bay to the shelf in the northern Gulf of Mexico (nGOM). Inshore surface waters were more variable than shelf surface waters due to the strong influence of river discharge. Phytoplankton (Chl a) and prokaryote biomass were both significantly higher inshore than on the shelf, with phytoplankton significantly higher than prokaryotes inshore. Virus and heterotrophic nanoflagellate abundances, however, did not differ between inshore and shelf waters. Samples were amended with nutrients (N + P) to examine the impact of nutrient limitation. Prokaryotes were nutrient limited in 14 (28%) of the experiments, while phytoplankton were nutrient limited in 26 (52%) of the experiments. When phytoplankton were nutrient limited, prokaryote growth rates were significantly altered. A similar impact on phytoplankton growth rates occurred when prokaryotes were nutrient limited, suggesting that the two groups are in competition for resources. Grazing was detected in the majority of experiments, while viral lysis was only detected in 24% of phytoplankton and 12% of prokaryote experiments. Growth and grazing rates for both phytoplankton and prokaryotes were tightly coupled inshore and on the shelf, with significantly more phytoplankton and prokaryotes grazed inshore (average = 106% and 75%, respectively) than on the shelf (average = 55% and 57%). These findings indicate that surface waters across the estuary are highly productive, with microzooplankton grazing transferring the majority of the microbial production to higher trophic levels.
Dataset Citation
- Cite as: Ortmann, Alice (2014). Biological, physical, and chemical data collected from inshore and shelf surface waters in Alabama from 2009-07 to 2011-12 (NCEI Accession 0117507). [indicate subset used]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0117507. Accessed [date].
Dataset Identifiers
ISO 19115-2 Metadata
gov.noaa.nodc:0117507
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NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information +1-301-713-3277 NCEI.Info@noaa.gov |
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NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information ncei.info@noaa.gov |
Time Period | 2009-07-01 to 2011-12-31 |
Spatial Bounding Box Coordinates |
West: -88.2116
East: -88.0113
South: 29.79887
North: 30.4374
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Dataset Progress Status | Complete - production of the data has been completed Historical archive - data has been stored in an offline storage facility |
Data Update Frequency | As needed |
Supplemental Information | PI: Dr. Alice Ortmann This data was collected with the FOCAL (Fisheries Oceanography of Coastal Alabama) program. More information about FOCAL can be found at http://focal.disl.org/ This data has been used in the following peer-reviewed publications: A. C. Ortmann, R. C. Metzger, J. D. Liefer, and L. Novoveska. 2011. Grazing and viral lysis vary for different components of the microbial community across an estuarine gradient. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 65:143-157. N. Ortell and A. C. Ortmann (2014) Interactions among members of the microbial loop in an estuary dominated by microzooplankton grazing. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 72:63-71. A. C. Ortmann and N. Ortell. (2014) Changes in free-living bacterial community diversity reflect the magnitude of environmental variability. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 87:291-301. |
Purpose | These experiments were designed to determine the relative roles of grazing and viral lysis on the microbial communities in Mobile Bay, Alabama |
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Last Modified: 2022-10-19T15:43:00Z
For questions about the information on this page, please email: ncei.info@noaa.gov
For questions about the information on this page, please email: ncei.info@noaa.gov