Effects of temperature and pCO_1tn2 on the degradation of organic matter in the ocean [Elektronische Ressource] / Judith Piontek

Effects of temperature and pCO on the degradation of organic 2matter in the ocean Judith Piontek Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Doktors der Naturwissenschaften (Dr. rer. nat.) Fachbereich 2 (Biologie/Chemie) Universität Bremen Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschung in der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Bremen, Januar 2009 1. Gutachter: Dr. Anja Engel 2. Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Karin Lochte Promotionskolloquium: 9. Februar 2009 “I presume that the numerous lower pelagic animals persist on the infusoria, which are known to abound in the open ocean: but on what, in the clear blue water, do these infusoria subsist?”CHARLES DARWIN (1845)Table of contents Summary 1 Zusammenfassung 5 1. General introduction 9 1.1 Temperature and pH in the ocean - natural variability and current trends 10induced by human activities 1.2 The bacterial cycling of organic matter in the ocean 12 1.3 The microbiology of organic matter degradation and its sensitivity to 18temperature and pH 1.4 Aims and outline of this thesis 21 1.5References 24 2. Manuscripts 31 2.1 List of manuscripts 31 I. Effects of rising temperature on the formation and microbial degradation 33 of marine diatom aggregates II. Abundance and size distribution of transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) in a coccolithophorid bloom in the northern Bay of 77 Biscay (June 2006) III.