Winter Planktonic Microbial Communities in Highland Aquatic Habitats

Károly Márialigeti,Boglárka Somogyi,István Máthé,Gergely Krett,Lajos Vörös,Attila Szabó,Tamás Felföldi,Selvarajan Ramganesh,Laura Jurecska

doi:10.1080/01490451.2015.1059523

Abstract

ABSTRACTWinter conditions in aquatic habitats of the temperate zone markedly differ from those present in warmer seasons, nevertheless, relatively scarce information is available on planktonic microbial composition, as sites are not easily accessible and it was supposed traditionally that microbial activity is low during this cold period. Since microorganisms could have great impact on the ecosystem even during winter, we explored various sites in the Eastern Carpathians regarding the abundance and taxonomic composition of planktonic microorganisms. Although many of the studied environments were extreme habitats, planktonic microbial communities were abundant and mostly diverse with the presence of previously unidentified taxa.

Highlights

Information on the composition of winter planktonic microbial communities are relatively scarce compared to the literature data dealing with warmer seasons, since sampling sites are not accessible or this period of the year was supposed traditionally to have low microbial activity
Winter conditions in aquatic habitats of the temperate zone markedly differ from those present in warmer seasons, relatively scarce information is available on planktonic microbial composition, as sites are not accessible and it was supposed traditionally that microbial activity is low during this cold period
Since microorganisms could have great impact on the ecosystem even during winter, we explored various sites in the Eastern Carpathians regarding the abundance and taxonomic composition of planktonic microorganisms

Summary

Introduction

Information on the composition of winter planktonic microbial communities are relatively scarce compared to the literature data dealing with warmer seasons, since sampling sites are not accessible or this period of the year was supposed traditionally to have low microbial activity. Depth-specific conversion between the two dominant pigments, Chl a and Bchl c, was observed in the Lake Ursu water column with in vivo spectrum analysis (Fig. 4) at the absorption maximum of the two pigments, at 675-680 and 740 nm, respectively (Castenholz 1973).

Results

Conclusion