Carbon cycling in primary production bottle incubations: inferences from grazing experiments and photosynthetic studies using 14C and 18O in the Arabian Sea

Estimates of photosynthesis based on the incorporation of 14C-labeled inorganic carbon into particulate carbon were compared to estimates of gross photosynthesis based on net O2 production and the production of 18O2 from H218O during the US Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (US JGOFS) Arabian Sea process cruises. For samples incubated below the surface and at optical depths<3, the 14C uptake : gross photosynthesis ratio averaged 0.45±0.1. This result is in accord with theoretical considerations of the combined effects of the Mehler reaction, photorespiration, dark respiration, excretion, and grazing effects on the two estimates of photosynthesis. The 14C uptake : gross photosynthesis ratio was distinctly higher (0.62) for samples incubated at the surface. This result is likely due to UV light effects, since the O2 and 14C incubations were done in quartz and polysulfone bottles, respectively. The 14C uptake : gross photosynthesis ratio was lower (0.31) for bottles incubated at optical depths>3. This result probably reflects an increase in the ratio of dark respiration to net photosynthesis in the vicinity of the compensation light level.