Allochthonous dissolved organic matter as an energy source for pelagic bacteria and the concept of the microbial loop

  • Lars J. Tranvik
Chapter
Part of the Developments in Hydrobiology book series (DIHY, volume 73)

Abstract

Substantial evidence exists that allochthonous dissolved organic matter (DOM) can provide an important carbon source for pelagic bacteria. On the other hand, it is implicit in the concept of the ‘microbial loop’ that the degradation of recalcitrant, allochthonous DOM should be retarded in the pelagic environment, as bacteria able to utilize recalcitrant DOM compounds for slow growth would be outcompeted by faster-growing bacteria utilizing more labile DOM compounds. Several possible solutions of this apparent paradox are suggested in this paper, including formation of labile DOM from recalcitrant DOM by e.g. photochemical reactions, and mechanisms enabling the maintenance of a metabolically diverse bacterioplankton. These mechanisms include an explanation analogous to Hutchinson’s classical solution to the ‘paradox of plankton’, and differential mortality of different populations within the bacterioplankton enabled by selective grazing, infections by bacteriophages and predatory bacteria, and spatial micropatchiness.

Key words

allochthonous DOM recalcitrant DOM bacterioplankton microbial loop 
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 1992

Authors and Affiliations

  • Lars J. Tranvik
    • 1
  1. 1.Institute of Ecology, LimnologyUniversity of LundLundSweden

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