The Ecological Role of Water-Column Microbes in the Sea

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Abstract
Recently developed techniques for estimating bacterial biomass and productivity indicate that bacterial biomass in the sea is related to phytoplankton concentration and that bacteria utilize 10-50% of C fixed by photosynthesis. Numbers of free bacteria are controlled by nanoplanktonic heterotrophic flagellates which are ubiquitous in the marine water column. The flagellates in turn are preyed upon by microzooplankton. Heterotrophic flagellates and microzooplankton cover the same size range as the phytoplankton, thus providing the means for returning some energy from the microbial loop to the conventional planktonic food chain.