Microbial community inhabitants in the Ross Sea

The microbial assemblage plays a key role in the coastal and pelagic food web of the Ross Sea; it controls many processes, including primary production, turnover of biogenic elements, degradation of organic matter and mineralization of xenobiotics and pollutants. Prokaryotic abundance and activity shift significantly over the annual cycle as sea ice melts and phytoplankton blooms develop. Marine microbs in the Ross Sea exibit a diversity which also depends on the timing, location and sampling method; research devoted to this group is increasing, using also genetic and molecular approaches in surface and deep waters. Our contribution will focus on the presentation of microbial data (standing stock and activity, as well as diversity and biotechnological potentialities of bacterial isolates) collected in the Ross Sea (coastal and pelagic) from 1988 to 2016, in the framework of the Italian National Programme for Antarctic Research (PNRA). Particular emphasis will be given to the interannual and decadal variability of microbial community in coastal and pelagic zones of the Ross Sea.