IR Home
AME
Home
Editors
Forthcoming
Information
Subscribe
Journals
Home
MEPS
AME
CR
DAO
ESEP
Search
Subscribe
Book Series
EE Books
Top Books
Order
Discussion Forums
Home
Research
Endangered Species Programs
Institutions
International Ecology Institute
Eco-Ethics International Union
Foundation
Otto Kinne Foundation
| |
AME 26:259-270 (2002)
|
Abstract
|
![](../../../../images/hline.gif)
DMS production in a coccolithophorid bloom: evidence for the importance of dinoflagellate DMSP lyases
Michael Steinke1,*, Gill Malin1, Stephen D. Archer2, Peter H. Burkill2, Peter S. Liss1
1School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom
2Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, West Hoe, Plymouth PL1 3DH, United Kingdom
*E-mail: m.steinke@uea.ac.uk
![](../../../../images/hline.gif)
ABSTRACT: During an experiment in the North Atlantic in June 1998, water samples were collected approximately 400 km south of Iceland inside and outside of a bloom of the coccolithophorid Emiliania huxleyi. In vitro
dimethylsulphoniopropionate (DMSP) lyase activity (DLA) was quantified using gas chromatography and found to vary from 0.1 to 142.3 nM dimethyl sulphide (DMS) h-1. Inside the bloom area the majority of DLA (>74%) occurred in particles >10
µm, indicating that E. huxleyi (5 to 7 µm diameter) made only a minor contribution to total DLA. In surface waters, phototrophic dinoflagellates (>10 µm) made up a high proportion of the total phytoplankton biomass (~27%) towards the end of the
coccolithophorid bloom and may have been the source of most of the DLA. This was also indicated by a significant correlation (p < 0.02) between DLA and the concentration of peridinin, a pigment used as a chemotaxonomic marker for dinophytes. The data
presented here are the first field measurements of DLA in a coccolithophorid bloom and suggest that even a relatively low concentration of photosynthetic dinoflagellates larger than 10 µm (during our study 18 to 105 cells ml-1) may contribute
significantly to DMS production. Although dinoflagellates are recognised as an important source of particulate DMSP, recognition of their significance for DMS production in the field has previously been limited to a few observations in highly concentrated
coastal and shelf blooms. Very little information exists on DLA in dinophytes and further investigations are warranted in order to improve our understanding of the biogeochemical and ecophysiological significance of DMSP lyases in this group of
phytoplankton.
KEY WORDS: DMSP lyase · Dimethyl sulphide · DMS · Dinoflagellates · Coccolithophorids · Emiliania huxleyi · North Atlantic
Full text in pdf format
![](../../../../images/hline.gif)
Published in AME Vol.
26, No. 3
(2002) on January 18
Print ISSN: 0948-3055; Online ISSN: 1616-1564.
Copyright © Inter-Research, Oldendorf/Luhe, 2002
|