Contribution of transparent exopolymeric particles (TEP) to estuarine particulate organic carbon pool
| Autor: | S. Annane, Gustavo A. Ferreyra, L. St-Amand, Michel Starr, Émilien Pelletier |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2015 |
| Předmět: |
Total organic carbon
Remineralisation geography geography.geographical_feature_category Ecology Exopolymer Chemistry chemistry.chemical_element Estuary Aquatic Science Nutrient Oceanography Environmental chemistry Phytoplankton Limiting oxygen concentration Carbon Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics |
| Zdroj: | Marine Ecology Progress Series. 529:17-34 |
| ISSN: | 1616-1599 0171-8630 |
| DOI: | 10.3354/meps11294 |
| Popis: | Transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) contribute to carbon export and can repre- sent a significant fraction of the carbon pool, most notably in estuarine systems. This study inves- tigates, for the first time, TEP seasonal variability, vertical distribution and contribution to the car- bon pool in the Lower St. Lawrence Estuary (LSLE), a highly productive subarctic estuary. TEP variability was investigated on a weekly basis at a fixed station (IML-4) from May to October 2011. TEP remained relatively low (15 µg GX eq l �1 ) during spring, but increased markedly in summer and fall, with surface concentrations reaching up to 1548 µg GX eq l �1 . TEP concentrations were positively correlated with the phytoplankton biomass in surface waters. No significant relation- ship between TEP and other biological and physico-chemical factors was found. TEP-C content represented the second most important contributor to the particulate organic carbon pool after phytoplankton-C (41 and 54%, respectively) in the surface layer. The TEP-C contribution decreased in the cold intermediate and bottom layers over the summer and fall (ranging between 24 and 35%). However, this contribution was particularly high during the spring (>94%) in the cold intermediate and bottom layers, possibly due to the colloidal organic carbon fraction con- tributing to TEP-C in deep waters. Our results suggest that TEP-C combined with phytoplankton- C are major contributors to the carbon pool and could significantly contribute to the subsequent export of macro-aggregates, and probably contribute to the decrease in oxygen concentration and pH in the bottom layer of the LSLE by respiration/ remineralisation processes. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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