Prokaryotic Life in the Deep Ocean's Water Column
- Author(s)
- Gerhard J Herndl, Barbara Bayer, Federico Baltar, Thomas Reinthaler
- Abstract
The oceanic waters below a depth of 200 m represent, in terms of volume, the largest habitat of the biosphere, harboring approximately 70% of the prokaryotic biomass in the oceanic water column. These waters are characterized by low temperature, increasing hydrostatic pressure, and decreasing organic matter supply with depth. Recent methodological advances in microbial oceanography have refined our view of the ecology of prokaryotes in the dark ocean. Here, we review the ecology of prokaryotes of the dark ocean, present data on the biomass distribution and heterotrophic and chemolithoautotrophic prokaryotic production in the major oceanic basins, and highlight the phylogenetic and functional diversity of this part of the ocean. We describe the connectivity of surface and deep-water prokaryotes and the molecular adaptations of piezophilic prokaryotes to high hydrostatic pressure. We also highlight knowledge gaps in the ecology of the dark ocean's prokaryotes and their role in the biogeochemical cycles in the largest habitat of the biosphere. Expected final online publication date for the
Annual Review of Marine Science, Volume 15 is January 2023. Please see www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
- Organisation(s)
- Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science
- External organisation(s)
- Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Medizinische Universität Wien
- Journal
- Annual review of marine science
- Volume
- 15
- Pages
- 461-483
- No. of pages
- 23
- ISSN
- 1941-1405
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-marine-032122-115655
- Publication date
- 07-2022
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 106021 Marine biology, 106022 Microbiology
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Oceanography
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/prokaryotic-life-in-the-deep-oceans-water-column(52247514-1c0b-471d-90f0-5c4faaf93d43).html