Net community production (NCP) is a community level process informing on the balance between production and consumption, determining the role of plankton communities in carbon and nutrient balances fueling the marine food web. An assessment of net and gross community production (NCP, GPP) and community respiration (CR) in 86 surface plankton communities sampled between 15° and 36° South along coastal Western Australia (WA) revealed a prevalence of net autotrophic metabolism (GPP/CR > 1), comprising 81% of the communities sampled. NCP, GPP, and CR decreased with decreasing nutrient and chlorophyll-a concentrations, from estuarine, to coastal and oceanic waters. CR, standardized per unit chlorophyll-a, increased with temperature, with higher activation energies (Ea) than GPP per unit chlorophyll-a (Ea 1.07 ± 0.18 eV and 0.65 ± 0.15 eV, respectively) either across ecosystem types and for coastal and estuary communities alone, indicating plankton CR to increase much faster with warming than GPP. These results characterize surface plankton communities across Western Australia as CO2 sinks, the stronger thermal-dependence of respiration that gross primary production rates suggests that their role may weaken with future warming.

中文翻译：

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西澳大利亚浮游生物群落代谢：河口、沿海和大洋地表水

净群落生产 (NCP) 是一个群落层面的过程，它告知生产和消费之间的平衡，确定浮游生物群落在为海洋食物网提供燃料的碳和营养平衡中的作用。在沿西澳大利亚 (WA) 沿海 15° 至 36° 向南采样的 86 个地表浮游生物群落的净和总群落产量 (NCP、GPP) 和群落呼吸 (CR) 的评估显示，净自养代谢 (GPP/CR > 1)，占抽样社区的 81%。NCP、GPP 和 CR 随着营养物质和叶绿素 a 浓度的降低而降低，从河口到沿海和海洋水域。CR，标准化每单位叶绿素-a，随温度升高，活化能 (Ea) 高于每单位叶绿素-a 的 GPP（Ea 1.07 ± 0.18 eV 和 0.65 ± 0.15 eV，分别）无论是跨生态系统类型还是仅针对沿海和河口群落，表明浮游生物 CR 随着变暖的增加比 GPP 快得多。这些结果将整个西澳大利亚的地表浮游生物群落描述为 CO2 汇，总初级生产力对呼吸的更强热依赖性表明它们的作用可能会随着未来变暖而减弱。