Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS14 Microbial Diversity (Disciplinary Connections)

Date: Monday, February 12, 2001, Time: 2:00:00 PM

Location: Brazos

Höfle, M, G, GBF Dept. Environ. Microbiol., Braunschweig, Germany, mho@gbf.de

Brettar, I, , GBF Dept. Environ. Microbiol., Braunschweig, Germany, inb@gbf.de

Engelen, B, , GBF Dept. Environ. Microbiol., Braunschweig, Germany, ben@gbf.de

Weinbauer, M, , GBF Dept. Environ. Microbiol., Braunschweig, Germany,

MARINE BACTERIOPLANKTON - DOES COMMUNITY FUNCTION DETERMINE COMMUNITY STRUCTURE ?

To elucidate the structure-function relationship of bacterioplankton two European pelagic habitats were studied: the central Baltic and the North-western Mediterranean sea. Different molecular fingerprinting techniques were used to assess community structure and function: 16S rDNA and 5S rRNA fingerprints. These fingerprints were used to calculate Shannon indices as well as UPGMA clusters. 16S rDNA fingerprints from the Baltic showed a similar composition of communities in habitats of similar organic nutrient conditions and electron acceptor availability. In comparison to the 16S rDNA fingerprints, 5S rRNA fingerprints indica-ted that only a fraction of the community members had a high metabolic activity. The Mediterranean station showed variations among years and with depth (until 2000m). Comparison of these molecular community structure data with physical and chemical parameters indicated that carbon flux within the water column was the driving force for community structure and activity of the bacterioplankton in both seas.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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