Evaluation de la matière organique vivante dans les eaux marines par la mesure de l'adénosine triphosphate

Quantitative determination of living organic matter (micro-organisms) in the ocean were made using the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) assay. Strehler and Totter's (1952) method was used. A simple apparatus recorded the photons emitted from the very beginning of the photochemical reaction; the assay is specific for ATP but enzymes present in Photynus pyralis suspension may create errors. The sea-water ATP values in Marseilles Bay range between 2.10^-2 and 80.10^-2 mg per m³. An offshore profile of the Mediterranean Sea, near Toulon, gives values around 10^-3 mg/m³. Protein assays have been made on the same samples. The differences existing between certain values in the series are attributed to inert particles.     

Influence de la température et du développement planctonique sur le mécanisme d'accumulation de la matière organique à la surface de la mer

The surface “skin” of the ocean is exposed to very particular conditions (ultra-violet irradiation, oxygenation, bubbling), which produce an accumulation of planktonic constituents. Many important parameters were studied in surface and subsurface waters of an inshore area of the North Mediterranean Sea over a period of 1 year. Differences in temperature and salinity between surface and subsurface layers were observed in the summer. Nitrates and phosphates are more abundant in the surface layer before the plankton bloom. Particulate and dissolved organic matter is 2 to 5 times more abundant in the surface than in the subsurface layer. The plankton bloom, very significant in the surface layer, is succeeded by an accumulation of carbohydrates. The surface microlayer of the sea may be considered a valuable indicator of planktonic development in the euphotic layer.     

Adenosine nucleotide “energy charge” ratios as an ecophysiological index for microplankton communities

Energy charge (EC) ratios of microplankton samples have been measured from their adenosine triphosphate (ATP), adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and adenosine monophosphate (AMP) contents, according to a method based on enzymatic tranformations of ADP and AMP into ATP, and the subsequent quantitative analysis of the latter by the bioluminescent reaction of a firefly lantern extract (Photinus pyralis). Interference caused by other non-adenylic nucleotides and bioluminescence inhibition by various compounds were reduced, or estimated, by the use of internal standards for each sample. This was accomplished both by the injection of a small volume of a non-commercial extract of P. pyralis and by measurement of the bioluminescent flash at its maximal value. This standard method for preparation and analysis afforded good reproducibility and permitted the calibration of individual samples, thus allowing the comparison and treatment of data in the large series necessary in oceanographic studies. Studies were made on natural populations taken from a polluted marine area where phytoplankton communities live under the stressful influence of an urban sewer outlet, near Marseille (France). Three sampling strategies in surface waters (transects from the outlet, sampling during a 24-h buoydrift, and regular sampling for a day-night period) conducted at a point in front of the outlet revealed a decrease of EC in relation to urban activity or approaching proximity of the sewer outlet. These low EC values (0.2 to 0.5) were caused by a high AMP content, perhaps originating from degraded biogenic particles and dead or metabolically impeded bacteria of terrestrial orgin stressed by ecologic factors such as increased salinity and decreased temperature. Further away from the sewage outlet, the EC increased as the bacterial population decreased, and the phytoplanktonic communities reappeared parallel to the dilution of the effluent. Although in mature and unperturbed ecosystems EC values of 0.70 to 0.80 were recorded, the values were generally lower than those measured in growing bacterial or phytoplankton cultures. This fact may be related to differences in the various metabolic states of multispecific populations. Some EC measurements from deeper microplankton samples presented in this paper were difficult to interpret, reflecting perhaps unsolved problems concerning the treatment of samples. However, it was possible to associate the range of variation in EC values to differences in composition and structure of the ecosystem of microplankton populations in neritic surface waters.