Factors Influencing the Production, Decomposition and Distribution of Organic and Inorganic Matter in Admiralty Bay, King George Island

Four major sources of dissolved and particulate detritus interact to determine the composition of organic matter in Admiralty Bay: 1. production of dissolved and particulate matter (especially sugars, DOC), from extensive beds of benthic macrophytes via exudation and pulp formation from eroded intertidal zones during storms; 2. land run-off of nitrogencycle waste products from penguins and seals; 3. freshwater contributions from glacier-melts, carrying high loads of re-mineralized inorganic nutrients and particulate detritus; and, 4. in situ phytoplankton primary production and associated modification by secondary consumers. The parameters monitored under field conditions included inorganic nutrients, salinity, temperature, urea, DOC, POC, PON, chlorophyll-a, 14C-primary production, dissolved mono- and polysaccharides, individual and combined amino acids, and particulate soluble and structural sugars. A detailed epi-fluorescence microscopical study of bacterial cell numbers, size classes and degree of attachment to particles, attempted to relate the heterotrophic interactions to the source and 'quality' of particulate and dissolved detritus.