Plants 



phytoplankcon. pbytobcnt 'los . macro;.hvce3 

 ? - 760 



Detritus. DOM 



Benthlc 

 Sediment 



Kan 

 (Fishing) 



Fig. 12. Diagram of flows of energy (10^^ kcal/yr) in the ecosystem of 

 the World Ocean. P, production: figures in boxes--consumption by 

 organisms of the next trophic level; figures in circles--nonassimilated 

 food; figures in triangles--unconsumed production; DOM = dissolved 

 organic matter. 



COo by heterotrophic bacteria and their production: in bacteria with 

 different types of metabolism, it varies from 3% to 10%; for 

 bacterioplankton in sea water it is approximately 5% (Sorokin, 1971a). 

 Thus, the production of bacterioplankton P can be calculated by the 

 equation P = 20 A (mg C/m^'day), where A is the daily value of dark 

 assimilation of CO2, measured by the radiocarbon method (Sorokin, 

 Kadota, 1972) in water from which the zooplankton and most of the 

 phytopiankton has been removed by preliminary filtration through a 



258 



