Decoupling between bacterial production and primary production over multiple time scales in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre

We measured rates of 3H-leucine (3H-Leu) incorporation, as a proxy for bacterial production, at Station ALOHA (22°45′N, 158°W) in the oligotrophic North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG). We report measurements conducted between January 2011 and April 2013, examining variability in 3H-Leu incorporation over diel, daily, and monthly time scales. Rates of 3H-Leu were evaluated in the context of contemporaneous 14C-based primary productivity (14C-PP) to identify potential temporal coupling between these measures of productivity. Throughout the upper ocean (0–125m), rates of 3H-Leu incorporation measured in the light (3H-LeuLight) were stimulated (1.5-fold, on average) relative to measurements in the dark (3H-LeuDark). At monthly scales, rates of 3H-LeuLight and 3H-LeuDark varied 4.9-fold and 3.8-fold, respectively, while rates of 14C-PP varied 1.7-fold. Rates of 14C-PP were often elevated during summer months (May through August) when incident light flux was greatest, while rates of both 3H-LeuLight and 3H-LeuDark often peaked in early fall (August through October) when seawater temperatures were maximal. Near-daily measurements of 3H-Leu incorporation and 14C-PP conducted over a 62-day period in the summer of 2012 revealed that rates of 3H-LeuLight and 3H-LeuDark varied ~2.5 and 2.0-fold, respectively, similar to ~1.8-fold daily variability observed in rates of 14C-PP. Over diel time scales, rates of 3H-LeuLight and 3H-LeuDark demonstrated different patterns, with rates of 3H-LeuLight elevated at mid-day and rates of 3H-LeuDark greatest in the early evening. Together, these results suggest that in this oligotrophic ecosystem, photosynthetic production of organic matter and bacterial production can be temporally uncoupled across daily to seasonal scales.