Microbial respiration rates of the pelagic communitis of İzmir Bay

On November 2004 and February 2005 terms, to estimate the microbial respiration ratesof the pelagic communities of İzmir Bay, bacterial respiration has been determined fromthe in situ experiments, which take place at four different stations selected from theinner, middle and outer bay. Bacterial respiration rates has been measured from thechange of dissolved oxygen in the bottles, which are incubated at dark for 48-72 hours.In the term of working at the Izmir Bay, average bacterial respiration has beenmeasured between 0,01 ile 0,16 mg O2/(l d). Obtained results had shown that bacterialactivity on November was higher than the values measured on February at all thestations.The stations at the outer bay compared to inner and middle bay regions had shownhigher bacterial activity on both seasons. However the concentrations of chlorophyll-ameasured at the Izmir Bay had pointed out that the density, consequently the activity ofthe phytoplankton was higher at the inner bay compared to the outer bay in contrast tothe bacterial activity. Furthermore, nutrient concentrations are much lower at the outerbay compared to the middle and the inner bay. Under the oligotrophic conditions at thecompetition between bacteria and phytoplankton, these results show that bacteria comeout superior than phytoplankton. Determining the higher bacterial activity on Novemberat the 1st station placed in the outer bay had shown that at the food chain there exists acarbon flow from the bacteria.