This study is the first to apply a comparative analysis of environmental chemistry, microbiological parameters and bacterioplankton 16S rRNA clone libraries from different areas of a 50 km transect along a trophic gradient in the tropical Guanabara Bay ecosystem. Higher bacterial diversity was found in the coastal area, whereas lower richness was observed in the more polluted inner bay water. The significance of differences between clone libraries was examined with LIBSHUFF statistics. Paired reciprocal comparisons indicated that each of the libraries differs significantly from the others, and this is in agreement with direct interpretation of the phylogenetic tree. Furthermore, correspondence analyses showed that some taxa are related to specific abiotic, trophic and microbiological parameters in Guanabara Bay estuarine system.

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Guanabara Bay is an eutrophic estuarine system located in a humid tropical region surrounded by the second largest metropolitan area of Brazil. This study explores the contrasting environmental chemistry and microbiological parameters that influence the archaeaplankton diversity in a pollution gradient in Guanabara Bay ecosystem. The environments sampled ranged from completely anoxic waters in a polluted inner channel to the adjacent, relatively pristine, coastal Atlantic Ocean. Partial archaeal 16S rDNA sequences in water samples were retrieved by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and analyzed using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), cloning, and sequencing. Sequences were subjected to phylogenetic and diversity analyses. Community structure of the free-living archaeal assemblages was different from that of the particle-attached archaea according to DGGE. Gene libraries revealed that phylotype identification was consistent with environmental setting. Archaeal phylotypes found in polluted anoxic waters and in more pristine waters were closely related to organisms that have previously been found in these environments. However, inner bay archaea were related to organisms found in oil, industrial wastes, and sewage, implying that water pollution controls archaea communities in this system. The detection of a substantial number of uncultured phylotypes suggests that Guanabara Bay harbors a pool of novel archaeaplankton taxa.

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Bacterioplankton was studied in a large area of Southwest Atlantic Ocean between 13 and 25ºS and 28 and 42ºW. Samples were collected in 108 stations at 20 m depth. Bacteria were enumerated by flow cytometry after nucleic acid staining with syto13 and two subgroups were differentiated: low nucleic acid content (LNA) and high nucleic acid content (HNA) bacteria. Total bacterial numbers varied from 0.37 to 5.53 10 5 cells mL -1. HNA cells represented 15 to 70% of the total number while LNA cells represented 30 to 85%. Heterotrophic bacterial production was determined by incorporation of tritiated leucine and ranged from 2.7 to 171.07 ng C L -1 h -1. No significant correlation was found between abundance and production. Nevertheless with support of multivariate analysis between bacterial abundance, bacterial production, chlorophyll a and other oceanographic data the distribution of the groups in two different oceanic provinces could be explained by nutrient availability. HNA bacteria accounted for the high percentage of cells found in the area north of 19ºS, linked to higher temperature waters and riverine nutrients inputs. LNA bacteria were the dominant cells south of this latitude and were correlated to the higher values of nitrate found for the same area.