Carbohydrates, enzyme activities, and microbial communities across depth gradients in the western North Atlantic Ocean

Lloyd, C. Chad; Brown, Sarah; Giljan, Greta; Ghobrial, Sherif; Vidal-Melgosa, Silvia; Steinke, Nicola; Hehemann, Jan-Hendrik; Amann, Rudolf; Arnosti, Carol

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-5787-2025

Articles | Volume 22, issue 20

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-5787-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-5787-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 20

Research article

|

21 Oct 2025

Research article |

| 21 Oct 2025

Carbohydrates, enzyme activities, and microbial communities across depth gradients in the western North Atlantic Ocean

C. Chad Lloyd, Sarah Brown, Greta Giljan, Sherif Ghobrial, Silvia Vidal-Melgosa, Nicola Steinke, Jan-Hendrik Hehemann, Rudolf Amann, and Carol Arnosti

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-5787-2025-supplement

Data sets

Polysaccharide hydrolase activities C. Arnosti (2020a) https://doi.org/10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.821801.1

Total cell abundance C. Arnosti (2020c) https://doi.org/10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.820961.1

Bacterial productivity C. Arnosti (2020d) https://doi.org/10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.820556.1

Monosaccharides of POM C. C. Lloyd et al. (2025a) https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15375159

Carbohydrate epitopes of particulate organic matter C. C. Lloyd et al. (2025b) https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15375738

Model code and software

Peptidase and glucosidase extracellular hydrolase activities C. Arnosti (2020b) https://doi.org/10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.820973.1

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Short summary

Carbon cycling throughout the ocean is dependent on the balance between phytoplankton productivity and heterotrophic decomposition. Bacteria must produce structurally specific enzymes to degrade specific chemical structures found in organic matter. Organic matter composition, environmental physical/chemical parameters, microbial community composition, and enzymatic activities varied with depth; the structural complexity of organic matter varied also with location in the ocean.