Planktonic respiration

Biddandah, B., S. Opsahl, and R. Benner. 1994. Plankton respiration and carbon flux through bacterioplankton on the Louisiana shelf. Limnology and Oceanography 39 1259-1275. 

Kemp, W.M., Sampou, P., Garber, J., Tuttle, J., and Boynton, W.R. (1992) Seasonal depletion of oxygen from bottom waters of Chesapeake Bay—roles of benthic and planktonic respiration and physical exchange processes. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 85, 137-152. 

The estimation made by Riley (1951) revealed that the curve of vertical distribution of OD values in the North Atlantic waters from the surface to 3000 m depth follows the curve of planktonic respiration. The maximum value of OD at more than 1000 m equals 0.002 ml O2 1" per year, which corresponds to the oxidation of about 1 pg organic C 1" yr. ... 

Inasmuch as the RKR model is a generalization, specific exceptions should be expected. The most important exceptions relate to growth conditions that can affect the stoichiometry of nutrient incorporation into plankton biomass. During respiration, the... 

Fig. 10-13. The links between the cycling of C, N, and O2 are indicated. Total primary production is composed of two parts. The production driven by new nutrient input to the euphotic zone is called new production (Dugdale and Goering, 1967). New production is mainly in the form of the upward flux of nitrate from below but river and atmospheric input and nitrogen fixation (Karl et al, 1997) are other possible sources. Other forms of nitrogen such as nitrite, ammonia, and urea may also be important under certain situations. The "new" nitrate is used to produce plankton protoplasm and oxygen according to the RKR equation. Some of the plant material produced is respired in the euphotic zone due to the combined efforts...

Ploug, H., Stolte, W., Epping, E. H. G. and Jorgensen, B. B. (1999). Diffusive boundary layers, photosynthesis, and respiration of the colony-forming plankton algae, Phaeocystis sp., Limnol. Oceanogr., 44, 1949-1958. 

This equation describes the ratios with which inorganic nutrients dissolved in seawater are converted by photosynthesis into the biomass of "average marine plankton" and oxygen gas 02. The opposite of this reaction is respiration, or the remineralization process by which organic matter is enzymatically oxidized back to inorganic nutrients and water. The atomic ratios (stoichiometry) of this reaction were established by... 

Redfield (1934), who analyzed the major elemental content of many samples of mixed plankton (phytoplankton and zooplankton) caught in nets towed through the surface ocean. They compared the carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus composition of these collections to concentration profiles of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), NOs, and P04 throughout the water column. This pioneering research demonstrated that these three elements are continually redistributed in the ocean by selective removal into plankton cells and their remains (i.e., fecal pellets), which are then efficiently respired as they sink through the marine water column. 

Heterotrophic microbes consume organic matter to fuel respiration metabolisms that provide energy. Aerobic respiration of the Redfield-Richards planktonic organic matter can be represented stoichiometrically as... 

An estimate of the amoimt of organic matter respired since a water mass was last at the sea surfece can be inferred from its AOU and the stoichiometry given in Eq. 8.4. The respiration of 1 mol of POM comprised of average detrital plankton biomass requires the oxidation of 106 mol organic carbon. As per Eq. 8.6, this requires 106 mol O2 ... 

Since phosphorus is not oxidized diuang the respiration of organic matter, it does not contribute to the O2 uptake. Thus, 138 mol O2 is consumed diuang the respiration of 1 mol of average plankton detritus, making the molar ratio of organic carbon respired to O2 consumed equal to 106 138. 

Deviations from the stoichiometry given in Eq. 8.4 have been observed. They are the result of several phenomena, such as variability in the elemental composition of plankton. Furthermore, not all of the POM that is respired is plankton. Other types of... 

Equation 8.4 predicts that aerobic respiration should release dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus into seawater in the same ratio that is present in plankton, i.e., 16 1. As shown in Figure 8.3, a plot of nitrate versus phosphate for seawater taken from all depths through all the ocean basins has a slope close to 16 1. Why do both plankton and seawater have an N-to-P ratio of 16 1 Does the ratio in seawater determine the ratio in the plankton or vice versa Current thinking is that the N-to-P ratio of seawater reflects a quasi steady state that has been established and stabilized by the collective impacts of several biological processes controlled by marine plankton. 

Because phosphate is released during remineralization with no decrease in O2, the A02/AP0 produced via denitrification should be lower than that predicted by the aerobic respiration of Redfield-Richards planktonic detritus. To reach the suboxic conditions required for denitrification requires the aerobic respiration of a considerable amount of POM and, hence, release of phosphate. Thus, A02/AP0 ratios less than 138 are most likely to be found in waters with high phosphate concentrations. The prevalence of denitrification in deep waters is suggested by their low (14.7) average N-to-P ratio (Figure 8.3). Areas where the OMZ are pronoimced, such as coastal upwelling areas, have particularly low N-to-P ratios as shown in Figure 10.7. 

Assuming Redfield-Richards behavior, i.e., the aerobic respiration of planktonic detritus, the concentration of remineralized phosphate can be estimated from AOU/138. 

Requiring free oxygen for respiration, esp. bacterial organisms of both sessile and planktonic types. 

Holligan, P.M., Williams, P.J. le B., Purdine, D. and Harris, R.P., 1984 b. Photosynthesis, respiration and nitrogen supply of plankton populations in stratified frontal and tidally mixed shelf waters. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 17 201-213. 

Cimbleris, A. C. P., and J. Kalff. 1998. Planktonic bacterial respiration as a function of C N P ratios across temperate lakes. Hydrobiologia 384 89—100. 

Kuparinen, J. 1987. Production and respiration of overall plankton and ultraplankton communities at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea. Marine Biolgy 93 591-607. 

Smith EM (1998) Coherence of microbial respiration rate and cell-specific bacterial activity in a coastal planktonic community. Aquat Microb Ecol 16 27-35 Smith WO Jr, Nelson DM, DiTullio GR, Leventer AR (1996) Temporal and spatial patterns in the Ross Sea phytoplankton biomass, elemental composition, productivity and growth rates. J Geophys Res 101 18455-18466 Smith WO Jr, Marra J, Hiscock MR, Barber RT (2000) The seasonal cycle of phytoplankton biomass and primary productivity in the Ross sea, Antarctica. Deep-Sea Res II 47 3119-3140... 

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