TY  - JOUR
A1  - Dziallas, Claudia
A1  - Grossart, Hans-Peter
A1  - Tang, Kam W.
A1  - Nielsen, Torkel Gissel
T1  - Distinct Communities of Free-Living and Copepod-Associated
 Microorganisms along a Salinity Gradient in Godthabsfjord, West
 Greenland
T2  - ARCTIC ANTARCTIC AND ALPINE RESEARCH
N2  - Microorganisms such as Bacteria and Archaea play important roles in the Arctic food web and biogeochemical cycles. Nevertheless, knowledge of microbial community composition in Greenland waters is scarce, and information on microorganisms associated with Arctic zooplankton species is virtually non-existent. We compared free-living microbial communities with those associated with two key copepod species (Calanus finmarchicus and Metridia longa) along a salinity gradient from the deep waters beyond Fyllas Banke to the inner part of Godthabsfjord, West Greenland, in summer 2008. Using genetic fingerprinting we found that free-living Bacteria (in particular Alphaproteobacteria) and Archaea varied with environmental factors and formed different communities along the fjord. Microbial communities associated with the two copepod species were clearly different from those in the ambient water. Surprisingly, Archaea could not be detected on the copepods. Our results show that zooplankton form "microbial islands" in the Arctic pelagic realm with a distinctive community composition and presumably functionality different from the free-living Bacteria. Changes in intensity and timing of meltwater runoff due to global warming are expected to affect these microbial assemblages differently, with potentially significant ramifications for Arctic food webs and biogeochemistry.
Y1  - 2013
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/34606
SN  - 1523-0430
SN  - 1938-4246
VL  - 45
IS  - 4
SP  - 471
EP  - 480
PB  - INST ARCTIC ALPINE RES
CY  - BOULDER
ER  -