PAItTICULATE ORGANIC MATTER I N YEA \\ATER
3
concentration appears to be too low to fulfill the requirements of
pelagic filter feeding organisms in most of the deepwater column.
Particles that sink to the bottom, and are thereby concentrated at
the water-sediment interface, supply nourishment to a benthic population of bacteria and animals which is considerably more abundant
than the bathypelagic assemblage.
One can find many references in the early literature to the presence
of abundant detritus in the sea and speculation about its possible
utility as food. However, little serious attention was given to the nonliving fraction until the 1950s. Nishizawa et al. (1954) published an
account of their observations of particulate matter from a submerged
diving chamber and aroused considerable interest and curiosity by
demonstrating that some of it was aggregated into much larger particles
,than had previously been described. Bathyscaphe divers reported
similar flakes of " marine snow " in various oceanic areas. At that
time no one had as yet questioned the traditional concept that nonliving particulate matter was derived by decay of dead organisms, but
these observations demonstrated that it could clump into masses of
considerable size rather than merely disintegrating into smaller fragments, and this stimulated further interest in the possible utility of
this material to filter feeding organisms.
Krey et ul. (1957) described a newly developed method for protein
analysis and measurement of seston weights, and a series of papers
followed, describing their results in various oceanic regions. Riley
(1959) made a few measurements of particulate matter in Long Island
Sound, including total seston weight, difference on ignition, and estimates of phytoplankton biomass. Some of this was fairly closely
comparable to the kind of data being collected by Krey and his associates.
Baylor et ul. (1962) and Sutcliffe et al. (1963) discovered that
organic particles could be formed experimentally by bubbling air
through sea water. Baylor and Sutcliffe (1963) demonstrated that
particles so formed would support the growth of Artemia. Riley (1963),
in a further study of Long Island Sound, found particles in natural sea
water which were similar in appearance to the experimental product.
All this began to cast serious doubt on the idea that the particulate
and dissolved organic fractions in sea water are simple intermediary
steps in the degradation of living matter into inorganic elements.
Reversals in the process seem to be possible, and newly created particles
might re-enter the food chain as bacterial substrates or food for filterfeeding animals.
New data and new theories as to their meaning promoted further
3
concentration appears to be too low to fulfill the requirements of
pelagic filter feeding organisms in most of the deepwater column.
Particles that sink to the bottom, and are thereby concentrated at
the water-sediment interface, supply nourishment to a benthic population of bacteria and animals which is considerably more abundant
than the bathypelagic assemblage.
One can find many references in the early literature to the presence
of abundant detritus in the sea and speculation about its possible
utility as food. However, little serious attention was given to the nonliving fraction until the 1950s. Nishizawa et al. (1954) published an
account of their observations of particulate matter from a submerged
diving chamber and aroused considerable interest and curiosity by
demonstrating that some of it was aggregated into much larger particles
,than had previously been described. Bathyscaphe divers reported
similar flakes of " marine snow " in various oceanic areas. At that
time no one had as yet questioned the traditional concept that nonliving particulate matter was derived by decay of dead organisms, but
these observations demonstrated that it could clump into masses of
considerable size rather than merely disintegrating into smaller fragments, and this stimulated further interest in the possible utility of
this material to filter feeding organisms.
Krey et ul. (1957) described a newly developed method for protein
analysis and measurement of seston weights, and a series of papers
followed, describing their results in various oceanic regions. Riley
(1959) made a few measurements of particulate matter in Long Island
Sound, including total seston weight, difference on ignition, and estimates of phytoplankton biomass. Some of this was fairly closely
comparable to the kind of data being collected by Krey and his associates.
Baylor et ul. (1962) and Sutcliffe et al. (1963) discovered that
organic particles could be formed experimentally by bubbling air
through sea water. Baylor and Sutcliffe (1963) demonstrated that
particles so formed would support the growth of Artemia. Riley (1963),
in a further study of Long Island Sound, found particles in natural sea
water which were similar in appearance to the experimental product.
All this began to cast serious doubt on the idea that the particulate
and dissolved organic fractions in sea water are simple intermediary
steps in the degradation of living matter into inorganic elements.
Reversals in the process seem to be possible, and newly created particles
might re-enter the food chain as bacterial substrates or food for filterfeeding animals.
New data and new theories as to their meaning promoted further