title: ATP as a biomass indicator for closed ecosystems.
abstract: Nucleotide measurements have been used as biomass indicators in microbial ecology. We report the use of this metric in materially closed, energetically open microbial ecosystems. Our results indicate that: (i) both ATP concentrations and pO2 show an increase from time of closure; (ii) ATP concentrations (0.2 1.2 ng/ml) are approximately 2 3 times higher than open ocean water; (iii) there is an apparent oscillation of ATP concentrations on the order of 50 days; and (iv) within experimental limitations the ratios of ATP concentrations to observed total cell counts is constant.
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000032:analysis*; D002452:Cell Count; D004463:Ecology; D008829:Microbiology; D010100:Oxygen / Q000032:analysis; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D010100:Oxygen