Bacterial and phytoplankton dynamics in a sub-tropical estuary

Abstract

Heterotrophic bacterial and phytoplankton biomass, production, specific growth rates and growth efficiencies were studied in July 2001 and January 2002 during both spring and neap tides, along a tidal cycle, at three sites in a subtropical estuary. Major freshwater inputs located in the Northern region led to differences in both phytoplankton and bacterioplankton biomass and activity along the estuary. While in the Northern region phytoplankton is light-limited, with mean phytoplankton production (PP) between 1.1 and 1.9 μg C l−1 h−1 and mean specific growth rates (PSG) between 0.14 and 0.16 d−1, the Southern region registered values as high as 24.7 μg C l−1 h−1 for PP and 2.45 d−1 (mean PP between 3.4 and 7.3 μg C l−1 h−1; mean PSG between 0.28 and 0.57 d−1). On the other hand, maximum bacterial production (BP: 63.8 μg C l−1 h−1) and specific growth rate (BSG: 32.26 d−1) were observed in the Northern region (mean BP between 3.4 and 12.8 μg C l−1 h−1; mean BSG between 1.98 and 6.67 day−1). These bacterial activity rates are among the highest recorded rates in estuarine and coastal waters, indicating that this system can be highly heterotrophic, due to high loads of allochthonous carbon (mainly derived from mangrove forest). Our results also showed that, despite that BP rates usually exceeded PP, in the Southern region BP may be partially supported (∼45%) by PP, since a significant regression was observed between BP and PP (r = 0.455, P < 0.001).