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High bacterivory by the smallest phytoplankton in the North Atlantic Ocean

Author

Listed:
  • Mikhail V. Zubkov

    (National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, Hampshire SO14 3ZH, UK)

  • Glen A. Tarran

    (Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth, Devon PL1 3DH, UK)

Abstract

Algae with an appetite Small planktonic algae contribute hugely to the ocean ecosystem by fixing carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. A new study of water samples from the North Atlantic Ocean in summer challenges the assumption that the phytoplankton are wholly dependent on inorganic nutrients by revealing that they also consume bacteria, obtaining about a quarter of their cell biomass from grazing on bacterioplankton. Previously, specialized protozoons had been thought to be the main predators of bacteria, but despite a comparatively sedate rate of bacterial consumption, the small algae are so numerous that at times they perform between 40 and 95% of total bacterivory in the near-surface ocean waters. Bacterivory may go some way towards explaining the dominance of the smallest algae in the oceans.

Suggested Citation

  • Mikhail V. Zubkov & Glen A. Tarran, 2008. "High bacterivory by the smallest phytoplankton in the North Atlantic Ocean," Nature, Nature, vol. 455(7210), pages 224-226, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:455:y:2008:i:7210:d:10.1038_nature07236
    DOI: 10.1038/nature07236
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    Cited by:

    1. Chu, Tianyi & Moeller, Holly V. & Archibald, Kevin M., 2023. "Competition between phytoplankton and mixotrophs leads to metabolic character displacement," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 481(C).
    2. Livanou, Eleni & Barsakis, Konstantinos & Psarra, Stella & Lika, Konstadia, 2020. "Modelling the nutritional strategies in mixotrophic nanoflagellates," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 428(C).
    3. Castellani, Marco & Våge, Selina & Strand, Espen & Thingstad, T. Frede & Giske, Jarl, 2013. "The Scaled Subspaces Method: A new trait-based approach to model communities of populations with largely inhomogeneous density," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 173-186.
    4. Michael W. Lomas & Nicholas R. Bates & Rodney J. Johnson & Deborah K. Steinberg & Tatsuro Tanioka, 2022. "Adaptive carbon export response to warming in the Sargasso Sea," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.

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