Benthic Bacterial Processes: Fate of Organic Matter in the Greenland Sea

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Benthic bacteria are increasingly perceived as the most important component of benthic carbon cycles, yet little is known about benthic bacterial activity in polar marine basins. Deming proposes to evaluate benthic bacterial processes and fate of organic matter in the faunally rich Greenland Basin, and the oligotrophic Norwegian Basin. Specific topics to be addressed include: 1) bacterial biomass and distribution, and comparisons with temperate basins of similar depths; 2) rates of use for labile dissolved organic carbon, production of extracellular enzymes to hydrolize more refractory carbon sources, and growth at the sub-zero temperatues and elevated pressures of these arctic basins; 3) bacterial use of sediment organic carbon compared with total benthic demand, and comparison of benthic bacterial significance to carbon cycles in polar basins and in warmer basins; and 4) extent to which bacterial community structure, sub-zero temperatures, and elevated pressures determine rates of bacterial activity in polar basins. Results will be evaluated within the context of total benthic biological carbon utilization. Overall results will provide important information on the fate of organic carbon and new insight into the constraints that temperature and pressure place on bacterial activity in high-latitude and deep-sea environments.