Marine Ecosystem Enclosed Experiments - International ...

may aggregate through mucous secretions and undergo physiological changes to
increase sinking rates (Smetacek 1985).
A noteworthy characteristic of the 1983 experiment was a shift in the maximum
of 14C activity added in the crude oil as radiolabeled n-hexadecane from the 0.45-3
to 3-8 µm size ranges (Wong et al. 1984; Lee et al. 1985). This shift coincided with
the peaks in bacterial activity, bacterial standing stock, and incorporation of activity
in polysaccharide, nucleic acid, protein, and low molecular-weight components of
the biological materials. Although the involvement of bacteria in the initial stages
of the association of oil particles (generally in a size range of