What is it about?
This study provides a snapshot of the hydrology and biogeochemistry of this basin, with particular emphasis on the abyssal waters, where two cores of the Eastern Mediterranean Deep Water, both of Adriatic origin, were found. The first core, located at about 3000 m, overlies the second one, which has a recent origin. Both water masses have Adriatic origin and the upper one is older than the lower one. A novel approach has been adopted to relate changes in microbial abundance and metabolism to new thermohaline and biogeochemical findings.
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Why is it important?
A close relationship between surface processes driven by air–sea interaction, microbial variables, physical and chemical parameters (nutrients, dissolved organic carbon and oxygen) was observed. Being intimately coupled to DOC patterns, the microbial respiratory activity was likely the most responsive microbial parameter to hydrological changes, confirming this variable as a sentinel of environmental changes.
Perspectives
The patterns of the microbial parameters obtained throughout the water column suggested the occurrence of varying metabolic processes, which can be representative of different water masses and, as such, retained to implement the marine hydrological characterization.
Dr Gabriella Caruso
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Scienze Polari (CNR-ISP) Messina, Italy
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Biogeochemical patterns and microbial processes in the Eastern Mediterranean Deep Water of Ionian Sea, Hydrobiologia, February 2018, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/s10750-018-3554-7.
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