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Bourgeois, S., Hochard, S., & Pringault, O. (2010). Subtidal microphytobenthos: effects of inorganic and organic compound supplies on migration, production, and respiration in a tropical coastal environment. Aquat. Microb. Ecol., 61(1), 13–29.
Résumé: Microphytobenthos (MPB) is an important primary producer in coastal ecosystems. In oligotrophic environments, its activity may be controlled by the availability of organic or inorganic compounds but also by its migration behavior. The objective of this study was to determine, in MPB-colonized subtidal sediments, the consequences of short-term enrichments (< 24 h) of organic (alanine, glutamate, and glucose) and inorganic (ammonium, phosphate) compounds on MPB vertical migration and metabolisms, net production (NP), areal gross production (AGP), and community respiration (R). Two contrasting stations located in the southwest lagoon of New Caledonia were investigated: 1 under strong anthropogenic influence and 1 under more oceanic influence. Both stations were dominated by epipelic diatoms. Differences in net primary production were explained by diurnal variation of MPB biomass at the sediment surface, showing the importance of MPB migration in the functioning of these subtidal environments. However, a stimulation or inhibition of MPB migration did not necessarily impact the net primary production of the system; this strongly depends upon the interactions between the autotrophic and heterotrophic compartments, the latter being controlled by the environmental conditions. For the station under low anthropogenic influence, AGP and R were both significantly stimulated by alanine, glucose, and ammonium, and significantly inhibited by phosphate. The similar responses of AGP and R to enrichments suggest that autotrophs and heterotrophs were tightly coupled. Conversely, in the station under strong anthropogenic influence, AGP and R responded differently. Addition of ammonium inhibited AGP without having an impact on R, whereas addition of phosphate inhibited R whilst having no measurable effect on AGP. In this station, the coupling between autotrophs and heterotrophs was weakened, suggesting that the carbon demand of the heterotrophic compartment is probably sustained by the supplies of allochthonous organic matter rather than by exudates from the autotrophic compartment.
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Mari, X., Lefevre, J., Torreton, J. P., Bettarel, Y., Pringault, O., Rochelle-Newall, E., et al. (2014). Effects of soot deposition on particle dynamics and microbial processes in marine surface waters. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 28(7), 662–678.
Résumé: Large amounts of soot are continuously deposited on the global ocean. Even though significant concentrations of soot particles are found in marine waters, the effects of these aerosols on ocean ecosystems are currently unknown. Using a combination of in situ and experimental data, and results from an atmospheric transport model, we show that the deposition of soot particles from an oil-fired power plant impacted biogeochemical properties and the functioning of the pelagic ecosystem in tropical oligotrophic oceanic waters off New Caledonia. Deposition was followed by a major increase in the volume concentration of suspended particles, a change in the particle size spectra that resulted from a stimulation of aggregation processes, a 5% decrease in the concentration of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), a decreases of 33 and 23% in viral and free bacterial abundances, respectively, and a factor similar to 2 increase in the activity of particle-attached bacteria suggesting that soot introduced in the system favored bacterial growth. These patterns were confirmed by experiments with natural seawater conducted with both soot aerosols collected in the study area and standard diesel soot. The data suggest a strong impact of soot deposition on ocean surface particles, DOC, and microbial processes, at least near emission hot spots.
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Pringault, O., Viret, H., & Duran, R. (2012). Interactions between Zn and bacteria in marine tropical coastal sediments. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res., 19(3), 879–892.
Résumé: Purpose The main goals of this study were (1) to examine the effects of zinc on the microbial community structure of anthropogenically impacted sediments in a tropical coastal ecosystem and (2) to determine whether these microbial benthic communities may enhance the adsorption of zinc. Methods The interactions between zinc and bacteria in tropical sediments were studied in sediment microcosms amended with 2.5 mg L-1 of Zn in the water phase and incubated for 8 days under different environmental conditions, oxic/anoxic and glucose addition. At the end of incubation, microbial structure was assessed by molecular fingerprints (T-RFLP) analysis and Zn speciation in the sediment was determined by sequential extraction. Results In the three studied sediments, Zn spiking resulted in only slight changes in bacterial community structure. In contrast, the addition of low concentrations of glucose (5mM) strongly modified the bacterial community structure: <20% of similarity with the initial structure concomitant with a strong diminution of the specific richness. Overall, these results suggest that highly labile organic matter has a larger impact on microbial structure than heavy metal. These weak impacts of Zn on bacteria diversity might be partly explained by (1) the strong adsorption of Zn in the presence of bacteria and/or (2) the incorporation of Zn into a nonbioavailable fraction. Nevertheless, Zn spiking resulted in significant changes in nutrient cycles, suggesting that bacterial metabolisms were impacted by the heavy metal. This led to an increase in nutrient supplies to the water column, potentially enhancing eutrophication in a nutrient-limited, oligotrophic ecosystem.
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