Bacterial biomass distribution in the global ocean
2012
Buitenhuis, Erik Theodoor | Li, W.K.W. | Lomas, M.W. | Karl, D.M. | Landry, M.R. | Jacquet, Stéphan | Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and School of Environmental Sciences ; University of East Anglia [Norwich] (UEA) | Institut océanographique Bedford - Bedford Oceanographic Institute [Dartmouth, Canada] (IOB) | Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) | Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO - UC San Diego) ; University of California [San Diego] (UC San Diego) ; University of California (UC)-University of California (UC) | Centre Alpin de Recherche sur les Réseaux Trophiques et Ecosystèmes Limniques (CARRTEL) ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB [Université de Savoie] [Université de Chambéry])
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Show more [+] Less [-]English. We compiled a database of bacterial abundance of 39 766 data points. After gridding with 1 spacing, the database covers 1.3% of the ocean surface. There is data covering all ocean basins and depth except the Southern Hemisphere below 350m or from April until June. The average bacterial biomass is 3.9±3.6 μg l−1 5 with a 20-fold decrease between the surface and the deep sea. We estimate a total ocean inventory of about 1.3×1029 bacteria. Using an average of published open ocean measurements for the conversion from abundance to carbon biomass of 9.1 fg cell−1, we calculate a bacterial carbon inventory of about 1.2 PgC. The main source of uncertainty in this inventory is 10 the conversion factor from abundance to biomass.
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