Table of Contents

• Coverage
• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
• Data Files
• Supplemental Files
• Related Publications
• Parameters
• Instruments
• Project Information
• Funding

This dataset is from a laboratory experiment. Four phytoplankton cultures and their associated bacterial communities were incubated in replicate roller bottles (1.9 L) over 3-6 weeks under laboratory conditions. Bacterial dynamics in the culture bottles were measured and correlated with geochemical parameters to determine the role of bacterial activities on the formation of CDOM in the cultures (Kinsey et al., 2018, see below).

The data include fluorescence and bacterial enzyme activity during CDOM monoculture experiments. The phytoplankton cultures were Skeletonema sp., Leptocylindrus sp., and Phaeocystis sp. Growth stages were initial, exponential, stationary, and degradation. 

Hydrolytic enzyme activities were determined using L-leucine-4-methylcoumarinyl-7-amide (MCA) hydrochloride, 4-methylumbelliferyl α-D-glucopyranoside, and 4-methylumbelliferone (MUF) β-D-glucopyranoside (Sigma-Aldrich) as substrate proxies for leucine-aminopeptidase, α-glucosidase, and β-glucosidase activities, respectively. For each bottle and substrate proxy, 196 µL of unfiltered experimental or control water was added in duplicate to a pure-grade black 96-well plate (Brand Life Sciences) containing a single substrate proxy at saturation levels (final concentration 200 µM). Fluorescence (excitation 370 nm, emission 440 nm) was measured in a Tecan Infinite 200 Pro microplate reader immediately following the addition of the substrate and several more times over 7-20 h. The well plates were incubated in the dark at in situ temperature. MUF and MCA standard solutions prepared in seawater were used to determine hydrolysis rates. Killed controls (boiled sample water) and ultrapure water samples showed little change over the incubations.

See the table of time stamps under "Supplemental Documents", below.

BCO-DMO Processing Notes:
- added conventional header with dataset name, PI name, version date
- modified parameter names to conform with BCO-DMO naming conventions
- converted Excel file tables to a flat file and combined a-glu, b-glu, and leu substrate treatments.

NSF abstract:

Chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) is a small but important fraction of the marine carbon pool that interacts with solar radiation and thus affects many photochemical and biological processes in the ocean. Despite its importance, the chemical basis for the formation of oceanic CDOM remains unclear. CDOM may be formed from two possible sources: 1) heterotrophic bacterial transformations of primary productivity (plankton-derived), or 2) terrestrially-derived. This project will examine the role of phytoplankton as a source of CDOM in the ocean by utilizing a powerful, new technique to measure particulate organic matter absorbance and fluorescence, discrete chemical measurements of probable precursors to planktonic CDOM, and enzymatic assays. Results of this research will provide new insights into the origin and production of planktonic CDOM and its transformation by heterotrophic bacteria. This research on CDOM will be shared broadly through a module at a North Carolina Aquarium, and streaming live feeds of shipboard activities to elementary school classrooms.

Terrestrial and oceanic dissolved organic matter (DOM) differ in their chemical composition. Laboratory and open-ocean observations suggest that bacterial transformation of phytoplankton DOM produces humic-like CDOM signals that are visually similar to those in terrestrial CDOM. However, prior studies of oceanic CDOM using absorbance and fluorescence fit an electronic interaction (EI) model of intramolecular charge transfer (CT) reactions between donor and acceptor molecules common to partially-oxidized terrestrial molecules found in humic substances. This project will test the hypothesis that phytoplankton and bacteria provide a source of donors and acceptors that are microbially-transformed and linked, enabling CT contacts between them and creating oceanic CDOM. To address this, researchers will systematically study phytoplankton growth, including marine snow formation. A new technique for measuring base-extracted POM (BEPOM) absorbance and fluorescence will be used to incorporate planktonic CDOM results into the EI model, and supplemented with measurements of its probable chemical precursors. These experiments will improve understanding of how the production of CDOM in the ocean is linked to the optics and chemistry of planktonic CDOM formation. Determining the time course and extent of phytoplankton POM and DOM transformation by heterotrophic bacteria during the same phytoplankton growth experiments will provide an in-depth understanding as to how bacterial transformation of marine snow-associated planktonic organic matter drives CDOM production throughout the ocean.