Desert and anthropogenic mixing dust deposition influences microbial communities in surface waters of the western Pacific Ocean

Abstract

The western Pacific Ocean is particularly affected by dust aerosols due to the transport of desert-natural sand and industrially derived particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 μm (PM2.5) from continental Asia. Both oligotrophic and nutrient-sufficient surface water occurs in this region and these are speculated to support different microbial community dynamics. Here, we report evidence from four shipboard experiments in the western Pacific Ocean supplying oligotrophic and nutrient-sufficient surface waters with aerosol particles obtained from the nearby coastal mountains, to simulate dust and anthropogenic aerosol inputs in the ocean region. A sharp increase in nitrate for surface waters after addition of dust aerosols resulted in large increases in diatom abundance in oligotrophic waters, whilst in nutrient-sufficient waters the response of diatom population was reduced. The increase in organic matter provided by aerosol inputs and/or increase in phytoplankton biomass induced the growth of heterotrophic prokaryotes, such as Rhodobacteraceae and Alteromonadaceae populations, in both oligotrophic and nutrient-sufficient seawater. Anthropogenic and desert-natural dust is an important source of nitrate and organics to oceanic waters and such inputs can directly affect primary production and heterotrophic prokaryotic abundance in the ocean, implying consequences for the carbon cycle in these aerosol-affected waters.

Keywords: Aerosol deposition; Asian dust; Bacteria; Oligotrophic ocean; Phytoplankton.