Distribution of aerobic anoxygenic phototrophs in the Eastern Adriatic Sea

Danijela Šantić; Stefanija Šestanović; Ana Vrdoljak; Mladen Šolić; Grozdan Kušpilić; Živana Ninčević Gladan; Michal Koblížek

doi:10.1016/j.marenvres.2017.07.012

Distribution of aerobic anoxygenic phototrophs in the Eastern Adriatic Sea

Mar Environ Res. 2017 Sep:130:134-141. doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2017.07.012. Epub 2017 Jul 20.

Authors

Danijela Šantić¹, Stefanija Šestanović², Ana Vrdoljak³, Mladen Šolić⁴, Grozdan Kušpilić⁵, Živana Ninčević Gladan⁶, Michal Koblížek⁷

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Marine Microbiology, Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Šetalište I. Meštrovića 63, Split, Croatia. Electronic address: segvic@izor.hr.
² Laboratory of Marine Microbiology, Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Šetalište I. Meštrovića 63, Split, Croatia. Electronic address: sesta@izor.hr.
³ Laboratory of Marine Microbiology, Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Šetalište I. Meštrovića 63, Split, Croatia. Electronic address: ana.vrdoljak@izor.hr.
⁴ Laboratory of Marine Microbiology, Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Šetalište I. Meštrovića 63, Split, Croatia. Electronic address: solic@izor.hr.
⁵ Laboratory of Chemical Oceanography and Sedimentology of the Sea, Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Šetalište I. Meštrovića 63, Split, Croatia. Electronic address: kuspe@izor.hr.
⁶ Laboratory of Plankton and Shellfish Toxicity, Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Šetalište I. Meštrovića 63, Split, Croatia. Electronic address: nincevic@izor.hr.
⁷ Laboratory of Anoxygenic Phototrophs, Institute of Microbiology CAS, 379 81 Trebon, Czech Republic. Electronic address: koblizek@alga.cz.

PMID: 28760621
DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2017.07.012

Abstract

The spatial patterns of aerobic anoxygenic phototrophs abundances were investigated, for the first time, in the Adriatic Sea. Also, the spatial patterns of the whole picoplankton community as well as the environmental factors that potentially influence these patterns were highlighted. AAP abundances was in average 66.9 ± 66.8 × 10³ cell mL^-1, and their proportion in total bacteria was 7.3 ± 4.3%. These values are in the upper range of AAP abundances observed in marine environments. Multivariate analyses proved that environmental factors influenced the picoplankton community interdependently. Chl a was the main driving factor for the picoplankton community, accounting for 33.3% of picoplankton community variance, followed by NO₂^- (17.9% of variance explained) and temperature (14.2% of variance explained). Chl a showed stronger correlation with AAPs, non-pigmented bacteria and Picoeucaryotes than with cyanobacteria. Abundance of cyanobacteria was stronger correlated to salinity and the N:P ratio than to nutrient concentrations.

Keywords: Adriatic sea; Aerobic anoxygenic phototrophs; Picoplankton.

MeSH terms

Cyanobacteria*
Salinity
Seawater
Temperature*
Water Microbiology