Bacterioplankton and phytoplankton biomass and production during summer stratification in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea

Research was conducted to examine bacterioplankton heterotrophic production, abundance and biomass in the northwestern Mediterranean during summer stratification in four successive stratification seasons. The main objectives were to derive accurate estimates of bacterial biomass and heterotrophic production and to investigate the relationship between bacterial and phytoplankton parameters at various time and space scales. Results indicate that summer values for biomass were similar for both northern and eastern Mediterranean but production estimates were higher in the northern portion.