On the respiratory metabolism of marine plankton: its application in assessing carbon fluxes and the role of substrates in its biochemical control

Abstract

In this thesis, the respiration of marine organisms has been studied from different perspectives. At the biogeochemical level, respiration measurements have been used to calculate vertical carbon fluxes associated with the metabolic activity of organisms in the water-column. At the physiological level, the variability of respiratory metabolism in zooplankton has been studied, both in the field and in the laboratory, in response to factors such as temperature, food quality and starvation. Finally, the mechanisms that regulate the in vivo activity of the enzymes that control respiration at the intracelular level have been investigated. This full-scale study has allowed to obtain a general picture of the importance of respiration in the ocean.