Abstract
A study of the microbial uptake and respiration (mineralization) of radioactive glutamic acid was made in 141 surface water samples in the Cook Inlet, Alaska during three sampling periods (October, 1976; April, 1977; and November, 1977). The rate at which the test substrate was incorporated into cell material plus that respired as CO2 was used to calculate the relative microbial activity. A northern water mass with salinities less than 31‰ showed high rates of relative microbial activity but low mineralization rates as indicated by respiration of14CO2. The reverse pattern was seen in the water mass (salinity higher than 31‰) to the south which was more typical of coastal water. These data suggest that the organic nutrients in these two water masses are quite different either qualitatively or quantitatively. This study illustrates how the observed measurement of relative microbial activity might be helpful in defining specific water masses.
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(The publication of this article was unintentionally delayed owing to a fault in secretarial routine.)
Published as Technical Paper No. 6009, Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station.
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Griffiths, R.P., McNamara, T.M., Steven, S.E. et al. Relative microbial activity and mineralization associated with water masses in the lower Cook Inlet, Alaska. Journal of the Oceanographical Society of Japan 37, 227–233 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02070577
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02070577