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Appl. Environ. Microbiol., Jul 1996, 2489-2493, Vol 62, No. 7
Copyright © 1996, American Society for Microbiology

Microbial Utilization of Estuarine Dissolved Organic Carbon: a Stable Isotope Tracer Approach Tested by Mass Balance

MAJ Hullar, B Fry, BJ Peterson and RT Wright
Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138; Biology Department, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199; The Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543; and Department of Biological Science, Gordon College, Wenham, Massachusetts 01984

The natural stable isotope values of different plants have been used to trace the fate of organic carbon that enters estuarine ecosystems. Experiments were designed to determine the magnitude of (delta) (sup13)C changes of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) derived from tidal marsh vegetation that occurred during bacterial decomposition. Bacteria were grown on DOC leached from estuarine Spartina alterniflora and Typhus angustifolia plants. In four experiments, 25 to 80% of the initial carbon (2.6 to 9.1 mM organic C) was converted to bacterial biomass and CO(inf2). Mass balance calculations showed good recovery of total C and (sup13)C at the end of these experiments (100% (plusmn) 14% total C; (plusmn) 1(permil) (delta) (sup13)C). The (delta) (sup13)C values of DOC, bacterial biomass, and respired CO(inf2) changed only slightly in the four experiments by average values of -0.6, +1.4, and +0.5(permil), respectively. These changes are small relative to the range of (delta) (sup13)C values represented by different organic carbon sources to estuaries. Thus, microbial (delta) (sup13)C values determined in the field helped to identify the source of the carbon assimilated by bacteria.

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