Ecological Significance of Planktonic Marine Archaebacteria

9529804德龙这项研究的主要目的是调查新发现的海洋微微浮游生物中一种丰富的成分：浮游海洋考古细菌的生理特性、代谢活动和生态意义。最近的研究结果表明，浮游海洋考古细菌分布广泛，在海洋原核生物组合中可以相对丰富。现有数据表明，这些微生物可能会显著影响海洋微微浮游生物的碳流和能量流。此外，由于所有其他已知的古细菌都具有独特的代谢和生理特性，浮游海洋古细菌很可能具有影响其生态功能的独特特征，并定性地将它们与其他原核浮游动物区分开来。这项研究将调查浮游古细菌的质量特性，以及它们对圣巴巴拉海峡微浮游生物生物量和产量的定量贡献。将使用选择性地检测浮游考古细菌存在、代谢物和活动的方法来评估它们的生态意义。将使用对古细菌相对丰度和分布的测量来估计它们对微微浮游生物生物量的贡献。估计放射性标记掺入特定古细菌细胞代谢物(rRNA、脂)的技术将用于确定进入浮游古细菌代谢池的营养物质的相对流量。这项研究将为海洋微微浮游生物中一种普遍存在但知之甚少的成分提供新的信息。这项研究的最终目的是将浮游海洋考古细菌的独特性质、生物量和代谢活动与它们影响海洋能量和物质流动的生物相互作用和生物地球化学过程联系起来。***

9529804 Delong The primary objective of this research is to investigate the physiological properties, metabolic activities and ecological significance of a newly discovered abundant component of marine picoplankton: planktonic marine archaebacteria. Recently results have demonstrated that planktonic marine archaebacteria are widely distributed and can be relatively abundant in marine prokaryote assemblages. Available data suggest that these microorganisms may significantly influence carbon and energy flux in marine picoplankton. In addition, since all other known archaebacteria have unique metabolic and physiological properties, it is quite possible that planktonic marine archaebacteria have unique characteristics which influence their ecological function, and qualitatively distinguish them from other prokaryotic picoplankters. This study will investigate the qualitative properties of planktonic archaebacteria, and their quantitative contributions to picoplanktom biomass and production in the Santa Barbara Channel. Methods that selectively detect planktonic archaebacterial presence, metabolites, and activities will be used to assess their ecological significance. Measurements of archaebacteria relative abundance and distribution will be used to estimate their contribution to picoplankton biomass. Techniques that estimate incorporation of radiolabel into specific archaebacterial cellular metabolites (rRNA, lipids) will be used to determine the relative flux of nutrients into planktonic archaebacterial metabolic pools. This study will provide new information on a ubiquitous but, little understood component of marine picoplankton. The ultimate goal of this research is to relate the unique properties, biomass, and metabolic activities of planktonic marine archaebacteria to the biological interactions and biogeochemical processes through which they influence flows of energy and matter in the sea. ***