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The significance of transparent exopolymeric particles in the vertical distribution of bacteria and heterotrophic nanoflagellates in Lake Pavin

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An Erratum to this article was published on 25 March 2010

Abstract

The abundance, size distribution, and bacterial colonization of Transparent Exopolymeric Particles (TEP) were examined in two consecutive years during the spring diatom development throughout the water column of the deep meromictic Lake Pavin, France. TEP concentrations ranged from 1.9 to 13.4 × 105 particles l−1 and their distribution and size spectra indicated that these particles are the main factor in governing the transport of diatoms to the deep hypolimnion of the lake. The majority of TEP was colonized by bacteria that constituted 0.4–8.9% of total DAPI-stained bacteria. The intensity of bacterial colonization was strongly related to temperature and decreased with particle size. A more important colonization of small particles in the hypolimnion during thermal stratification suggested that bacterial colonisation also increased with the age of the particle. The abundance of heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNF) was more significantly related to the density of particles than to the density of total bacteria and the intensity of bacterial colonization of TEP. Our results therefore suggest that TEP are a more important factor for HNF development than attached and free bacteria. We conclude that TEP are involved not only in sedimentation processes but also in the dynamics of bacteria and protozoa in freshwater pelagic environments.

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Acknowledgments

D Sargos and J-C Demeure are acknowledged for field and technical assistance. MBA was supported by a doctoral fellowship from the University of Damascus (Ministry of higher education), Syria. We are grateful to two anonymous referees for helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. This study was supported by CNRS UMR 6023.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clermont Université, Université Blaise Pascal, BP 10448, 63000, Clermont-Ferrand, France

    Mohamad-Bashir Arnous, Nicolas Courcol & Jean-François Carrias

  2. Laboratoire Microorganismes: Génome et Environnement (LMGE), UMR CNRS, 6023, 63177, Aubière, France

    Mohamad-Bashir Arnous, Nicolas Courcol & Jean-François Carrias

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  1. Mohamad-Bashir Arnous
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  2. Nicolas Courcol
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Correspondence to Jean-François Carrias.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00027-010-0134-y

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Arnous, MB., Courcol, N. & Carrias, JF. The significance of transparent exopolymeric particles in the vertical distribution of bacteria and heterotrophic nanoflagellates in Lake Pavin. Aquat. Sci. 72, 245–253 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-010-0127-x

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