Microbial distribution and activity across a water mass frontal zone in the California Current Ecosystem

Abstract

Ocean fronts with accumulated biomass and organic matter may be significant sites of enhanced microbial activity. We sampled a frontal region (the A-Front) separating oligotrophic and mesotrophic water masses within the California Current Ecosystem (CCE) to assess the influence of frontal hydrography on several microbial parameters. Samples for heterotrophic bacterial, viral and flagellate abundance, dissolved and particulate carbon and nitrogen, transparent particles and bacterial carbon production were collected at 6 depths from the surface to 100 m with 5‐9 conductivity/temperature/depth casts along a 26-km northerly transect across the front. Relative to adjacent oligotrophic and mesotrophic waters, the frontal transition displayed peaks in the mean estimates of cell-specific bacterial carbon and bulk bacterial production, particulate organic carbon and particulate organic nitrogen concentrations, and the abundance and size of transparent particles. Bacterial carbon production increased 5-fold northward from oligotrophic waters to the frontal zone, in agreement with an increase in the frequency of dividing cells, but bacterial abundance was lower than at adjacent stations. This may be partially explained by high chlorophyll, elevated virus:bacteria ratios and low nanoflagellate grazer abundance at the front. Our data suggest that CCE fronts can facilitate intense biological transformation and physical transport of organic matter, in sharp contrast to adjacent low productivity waters, and harbor dynamic microbial populations that influence nutrient cycling.