Water was collected via Niskin bottles mounted on a rosette, equipped with a CTD.

Experiments on (operationally defined) particles were carried out by gravity-filtering water through 3 µm pore size filters.  1/12th sections of the 3 µm pore-size filters were submerged in 15 mL artificial seawater; enzyme activities were measured as described below.         

The potential of the seawater microbial community to hydrolyze six high-molecular-weight polysaccharides (arabinogalactan, chondroitin sulfate, fucoidan, laminarin, pullulan, and xylan) was investigated in surface and bottom water. Large-particle associated enzyme activities were measured by incubating 1/12th of a 3 um filter in 15 ml autoclaved ambient seawater. Subsampling time points were 120h, 240 h, 360 h, and 600 h.  Substrate was added at 3.5 μM monomer-equivalent concentrations. Two  15 mL falcon tubes – one with seawater and one with autoclaved seawater – with no added substrate served as blank controls. Incubations were stored in the dark at 0 C. \At each timepoint, 2 mL of seawater was collected from the 15 mL falcon tube using a sterile syringe, filtered through a 0.2 μm pore size syringe filter, and stored frozen until processing.

The hydrolysis of high molecular weight substrate to lower molecular weight hydrolysis products as measured using gel permeation chromatography with fluorescence detection, after the method of Arnosti [1996, 2003]. In short, the subsample was injected onto a series of columns consisting of a 21 cm column of G50 and a 19 cm column of G75 Sephadex gel. The fluorescence of the column effluent was measured at excitation and emission wavelengths of 490 and 530 nm, respectively. Hydrolysis rates were calculated from the change in molecular weight distribution of the substrate over time, as described in detail in Arnosti [2003].