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Control of marine bacterioplankton populations: Measurement and significance of grazing

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Abstract

A variety of methods have been used to estimate the degree of control exercised upon marine bacterioplankton by grazing organisms. These include filtration or dilution of samples to reduce grazers, the use of specific inhibitors to prevent growth or grazing, and the use of artificial particles or radio-labelled bacteria as tracers for the natural bacterioplankton. Each of these techniques has drawbacks which may lead to under- or overestimates of grazing. In addition, they tell us little about which organisms are doing the grazing or the degree to which viruses or lytic bacteria compete with grazers for bacterial production.

Because measurements of grazing and bacterioplankton growth rates are uncertain, exact comparisons are not presently possible. Thus measurements of bacterial and bacterivore abundance, concentrated on comparisons between seasons, on diel cycles and on spatial variations, have been used to evaluate mechanisms controlling bacterial populations. These give an idea of the degree of coupling between bacterial growth and bacterivore activity and of the time scales over which growth and grazing balance. Combined with laboratory studies of grazing, they currently provide the best insight into what controls populations of bacteria in the sea.

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  1. Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Box AB, 12545, Millbrook, NY, USA

    George B. McManus

  2. Marine Sciences Research Center, 11794, SUNY Stony Brook, NY, USA

    Jed A. Fuhrman

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McManus, G.B., Fuhrman, J.A. Control of marine bacterioplankton populations: Measurement and significance of grazing. Hydrobiologia 159, 51–62 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00007367

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