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Lateral input of dissolved organics may play a significant role to support productivity in oligotrophic ocean although associated biogeochemical evidences are lacking in the field. Ammonia oxidation (AO), the first step of nitrification that bridges organic remineralization and nitrate, is potentially an immediate responder. By using 15N‐NH4+, the spatial distribution of AO was investigated in the northern South China Sea, where Kuroshio Current intrudes frequently. AO ranged widely (0.001 to 134 nmol · L−1 · day−1) in space and the depth‐integrated (200 m) AO peaked where the Kuroshio influence is moderate suggesting that enhanced AO had occurred due to lateral mixing. Since oligotrophic Kuroshio is characterized by high dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), such lateral mixing not only introduces external DON into the northern South China Sea but also enhances NH4+ regeneration and subsequent oxidation to complicate the conventional new production in the boundary zone with DON gradient.

The Pacific nodule province covers about 4.5 million km 2 in the eastern tropical Pacific with abundance of polymetallic nodules. Microbes are believed to play large roles in the metal cycling in many environments, but the microbial community in the Pacific nodule province has never been studied. Phylogenetic studies based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, together with bacterial cultivation were used to study the microbial populations in the Pacific nodule province (A core) deep-sea sediment. Bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequence analysisdemonstrated that Proteobacteria division mainly of c-Proteobacteria dominated the microbial community of the nodule province A core. Among the c-Proteobacteria, Shewanella species which were known as Fe(h), Mn(h) reducing bacteria were found prevalent. Besides Proteobacteria, Green nonsulfur bacteria, the candidate subdivision OP3, Cytophaga-Flexibacter-Bacteroides bacteria and novel unidentified strains were also detected. Archaeal 16S rDNA sequence analysis data and results from hybridization with crenarchaeotal marine group I specific probe revealed that all archaea detected at the station belong to Crenarchaeota nonthermophilic marinegroup I. Bacteria assigned to the gamma Proteobacteria wereisolated, none of them showed capability of manganese oxidation.

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