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More, smaller bacteria in response to ocean's warming?
Xosé Anxelu G Morán1, Laura Alonso-Sáez2, Enrique Nogueira3
1Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Xixón, Xixón, Asturies 33212, Spain xelu.moran@kaust.edu.sa.
Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|June 12, 2015
Summary
Coastal bacteria are shrinking in size due to warming ocean temperatures, impacting marine food webs and carbon cycling. This study reveals a significant shift in bacterial community structure over a decade.
Area of Science:
- Marine microbiology
- Oceanography
- Global change biology
Background:
- Heterotrophic bacteria are crucial for ocean organic matter cycling.
- Coastal bacterioplankton are sensitive indicators of global change.
- Past research has underutilized these microbial communities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze decadal changes in coastal bacterioplankton.
- To investigate the impact of rising temperatures on bacterial size and abundance.
- To understand shifts in bacterial community structure and biomass.
Main Methods:
- Time series analysis of monthly observations over a decade.
- Flow cytometry to differentiate low (LNA) and high (HNA) nucleic acid bacteria.
- Temperature manipulation experiments to confirm warming effects.
Main Results:
- Strong seasonal patterns in bacterial abundance, size, and biomass observed.
- Significant decrease in bacterioplankton cell size over the decade.
- Low nucleic acid (LNA) bacteria showed coherent trends linked to temperature.
- Warming directly impacts bacterial size, confirmed by experiments.
- Increasing standing stocks and decreasing cell size suggest a shift towards LNA bacteria.
Conclusions:
- Bacterioplankton cell size is decreasing, consistent with temperature-driven body size reduction.
- A shift towards a community dominated by LNA bacteria is occurring.
- This shift may reduce the efficiency of the biological pump, impacting marine food webs and carbon fluxes.
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