Dimethylsulfide and Dimethylsulfoniopropionate Production in the Antarctic Pelagic Food Web

Abstract

Dimethylsulfide (DMS) is the most abundant form of volatile sulfurs in the ocean. Many biogeochemical studies have been conducted in the past several decades to unveil the processes driving the production, transformation and removal of DMS. They have shown that the Southern Ocean is an area with one of the highest levels of DMS concentrations during the austral summer in the global oceans. It has recently been observed that Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, produces DMS and dissolved dimethyl-sulfoniopropionate (DMSP) in its gazing process. Copepods also produce DMS, and the potential production rates of DMS in the Southern Ocean by krill and copepods are estimated to be as much as <TEX>$21{\mu}mol\;m^{-2}d^{-1}$</TEX> and <TEX>$0.6{\mu}mol\;m^{-2}d^{-1}$</TEX>, respectively. These production rates of zooplankton and the presence of phytoplanktot which have high DMSP contents in their cells, might facilitate in situ DMS production in the Southern Ocean.