Significance of Bacterial Activity for the Distribution and Dynamics of Transparent Exopolymer Particles

The study of transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) in the Mediterranean Sea is particularly relevant as they can be promoters of mucilage events, a frequent phenomenon there. We assessed the influence of bacterio- plankton on TEP distribution and dynamics across the west- east axis of the Mediterranean Sea. We performed an extensive study of TEP, dissolved carbohydrates, and their relationships with bacterial abundance and bacterial produc- tion (BP). A significant and positive relationship was observed between BP and TEP in the study region (r2=0.51, /?<0.001). The direct release of TEP by bacteria was experimentally corroborated using regrowth cultures where increases in TEP tracked bacterial growth in abundance and production. These TEP increases were positively related to the increases in BP (r2=0.78, /?<0.05). The consistency