Seasonal changes in zooplanktonic alkaline phosphatase activity in Toulon Bay (France): the role of Cypris larvae

We studied zooplankton contribution to the total particulate phosphatase activity, the kinetics of this activity, the relation to the different taxonomic groups and the role of particle-bound bacteria. The activity of total particulate material collected from a liter of seawater was more elevated in May, June and August than during the rest of the year. These high activities resulted from a high contribution of the >90 μm fraction which account then for more than 60% of the total particulate activity. Two Michaelian processes with high and low Vmax were disclosed on this fraction. The high Vmax component was responsible for the high summer activities. During these periods, high densities of cirriped Cypris were found which were statistically correlated with this high Vmax component as with its specific activity. Moreover, the contribution of attached bacteria to these high activities was low. In return, this contribution was predominant during the periods of low activity. A simple method was developed to characterise this bacterial activity.