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The global distribution and climate resilience of marine heterotrophic prokaryotes
Research Square , Vol.4 July 2023
Research Square Company
2023
Abstract
Heterotrophic Bacteria and Archaea (prokaryotes) are a major component of marine food webs and global biogeochemical cycles. Yet, there is limited understanding about how prokaryotes vary across global environmental gradients, and how they may be affected by climate change. Here, using parametric statistical models fit to a global dataset of prokaryotic abundance and cell carbon, we find that prokaryotic biomass varies by only 2-fold across the global ocean’s surface waters, despite phytoplankton varying by >2 orders of magnitude, while prokaryote abundance increases with temperature by 2.6% per °C. As a result, in contrast to the 10% projected decline in global biomass of larger heterotrophs (zooplankton and fish), prokaryote biomass will decline only 3% by 2100 under climate change. Thus, future oceans could be increasingly dominated by heterotrophic prokaryotes, diverting a larger share of primary production away from larger heterotrophs and into microbial food webs.
Details
- Title
- The global distribution and climate resilience of marine heterotrophic prokaryotes
- Authors
- Ryan Heneghan (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringJacinta Holloway-Brown (Author) - The University of AdelaideJosep Gasol (Author) - Institute of Marine SciencesGerhard Herndl (Author) - University of ViennaXosé Anxelu Morán (Author) - Instituto Español de OceanografíaEric Galbraith (Author) - McGill University
- Publication details
- Research Square , Vol.4 July 2023
- Publisher
- Research Square Company
- Date published
- 2023
- DOI
- 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3026465/v1
- ISSN
- 2693-5015
- Copyright note
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99739998802621
- Output Type
- Preprint
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