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Updated: Jun 30, 2025

Unraveling the Unseen Players in the Ocean - A Field Guide to Water Chemistry and Marine Microbiology

Unraveling the Unseen Players in the Ocean - A Field Guide to Water Chemistry and Marine Microbiology

Published on: November 5, 2014

Ubiquitous filter feeders shape open ocean microbial community structure and function.

Anne W Thompson¹, Györgyi Nyerges², Kylee M Lamberson³

¹Department of Biology, Portland State University, Portland, OR 97201, USA.

|March 20, 2024

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Salps (pelagic tunicates) significantly impact ocean microbial communities by preying on nitrogen-fixing bacteria like Crocosphaera. This predation restrains nitrogen delivery, while smaller cells like Prochlorococcus and SAR11 are spared, influencing nutrient cycling.

Keywords:

Crocosphaera Prochlorococcus SAR11 grazing salps

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Published on: September 13, 2019

Area of Science:

Marine microbial ecology
Ocean biogeochemical cycling
Trophic interactions in pelagic ecosystems

Background:

Microbial mortality mechanisms are crucial for global nutrient cycling.
Salps are known predators of large microbes in coastal systems, but their role in open ocean gyres is unclear.
Understanding salp grazing is key to quantifying microbial community structure and function in oligotrophic environments.

Purpose of the Study:

To quantify salp grazing rates and their impact on microbial functional groups in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre.
To investigate salp predation selectivity on key open ocean microbial populations.
To elucidate the role of salps in regulating nitrogen fixation and microbial community structure.

Main Methods:

Utilized quantitative techniques to measure salp clearance rates.
Analyzed salp enrichment of specific microbial functional groups.
Employed particle-interaction modeling to understand prey selection.

Main Results:

Salps were identified as novel predators of the nitrogen-fixing bacterium Crocosphaera, thus limiting new nitrogen input.
The dominant small cells, Prochlorococcus and SAR11, were not consumed by salps.
Salps also preyed upon Chrysochromulina, a mixotrophic predator of Prochlorococcus, benefiting this phytoplankton.

Conclusions:

Salps play a significant, previously unrecognized role in structuring microbial communities in subtropical open ocean gyres.
Prey selection by salps is influenced by factors beyond cell size, including surface properties, shape, and nutritional quality.
Salp grazing influences nitrogen cycling and the dominance of small cells in oligotrophic marine ecosystems.