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Factors dominating bacterioplankton abundance and production in the Nordic seas and the Chukchi Sea in summer 2012

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Abstract

Abundance and production of bacterioplankton were measured in the Nordic seas and Chukchi Sea during the 5th Chinese Arctic Research Expedition in summer 2012. The results showed that average bacterial abundances ranged from 3.31×1011 cells/m3 to 2.25×1011 cells/m3, and average bacterial productions (calculated by carbon) were 0.46 mg/(m3·d) and 0.54 mg/(m3·d) in the Nordic seas and Chukchi Sea, respectively. T-test result showed that bacterial abundances were significantly different between the Nordic seas and Chukchi Sea, however, no significant difference was observed regarding bacterial productions. Based on the slope of lg bacterial biomass versus lg bacterial production, bacterial communities in the Nordic seas and Chukchi Sea were moderately dominated by bottom-up control. Both Pearson correlation analysis and multivariable linear regression indicated that temperature had significant positive correlation with bacterial abundance in the Chukchi Sea, while no correlations with productions in both areas. Meanwhile, Chl a had positive correlations with both bacterial abundance and production in these two regions. As the temperature and Chl a keep changing in the future, we suggest that both bacterial abundance and production been hanced in the Chukchi Sea but weaken in the Nordic seas, though the enhancement will not be dramatic as a result of higher pressure of predation and viral lysis.

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Acknowledgements

Data used in this paper were collected during the 5th Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition in summer 2012. The authors are grateful to the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration for the access to R/V Xuelong and to the whole expedition team for their great support during the in situ observation. We also thank Jin Haiyan and Hao Qiang for kindly providing the data of nutrients and Chl a.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Yuan Gao & Min Chen

  2. State Oceanic Administration Key Laboratory for Polar Science, Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai, 200136, China

    Yuan Gao, Jianfeng He, Ling Lin & Fang Zhang

  3. State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Min Chen

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  1. Yuan Gao
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Correspondence to Jianfeng He.

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Foundation item: The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract Nos 41476168 and 41206189; the Chinese Polar Environment Comprehensive Investigation and Assessment Programs under contract No. CHINARE-2011-2015; the Public Science and Technology Research Funds Projects of Ocean under contract No. 20110522.

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Gao, Y., He, J., Chen, M. et al. Factors dominating bacterioplankton abundance and production in the Nordic seas and the Chukchi Sea in summer 2012. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 36, 153–162 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-017-1031-1

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