TABLE 2.
Benthic bacterial and viral parameters in surface sediments (depth, 0 to 0.5 cm) in the deep Mediterranean Sea
| Basin | Station | Bacterial abundance (108 cells g−1) | Viral abundance (107 viruses g−1) | Virus-to- bacterium ratio | Bacterial biomass (μg of C g−1) | Bacterial size (fg of C cell−1) | BCP (μg of C g−1 h−1) | BCP per cell (fg of C cell−1 h−1) | Bacterial turnover (day−1) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western | S10 | 2.53 (1.26)a | 5.11 (0.69) | 0.20 | 9.21 (3.66) | 36.5 | 0.012 (0.001) | 0.049 | 0.032 |
| S8 | 6.54 (0.97) | 12.0 (5.91) | 0.18 | 22.43 (5.60) | 34.3 | 0.056 (0.003) | 0.086 | 0.060 | |
| S7 | 6.45 (1.20) | 7.09 (0.66) | 0.11 | 30.50 (5.85) | 47.3 | 0.147 (0.017) | 0.228 | 0.116 | |
| S6 | 1.84 (0.17) | 8.58 (1.40) | 0.47 | 6.29 (0.21) | 34.1 | 0.017 (0.007) | 0.093 | 0.065 | |
| Avg | 4.34 (1.08) | 8.19 (1.26) | 0.24 | 17.11 (4.92) | 38.0 | 0.058 (0.03) | 0.114 | 0.068 | |
| Eastern | S5 | 5.66 (1.24) | 6.62 (0.82) | 0.12 | 20.50 (2.28) | 36.2 | 0.051 (0.009) | 0.091 | 0.060 |
| S4 | 6.53 (0.48) | 6.92 (1.65) | 0.11 | 25.71 (1.76) | 39.3 | 0.031 (0.004) | 0.048 | 0.029 | |
| S3 | 2.77 (1.11) | 3.57 (0.48) | 0.13 | 18.09 (1.50) | 65.3 | 0.013 (0.003) | 0.046 | 0.017 | |
| S2 | 4.20 (0.71) | 7.91 (1.91) | 0.19 | 27.68 (2.62) | 65.9 | NDb (ND) | ND | ND | |
| S1 | 3.50 (0.25) | 4.19 (1.17) | 0.12 | 20.30 (2.55) | 58.0 | 0.015 (0.002) | 0.043 | 0.018 | |
| Avg | 4.53 (0.67) | 5.84 (0.75) | 0.13 | 22.45 (1.62) | 52.9 | 0.028 (0.01) | 0.057 | 0.031 |
a
The values in parentheses are standard deviations.
b
ND, not determined.