Fig. 4: The NOSC of removed DOM was correlated with BR and BGE.

When heterotrophic cells were using more reduced DOM, their rate of respiration was slower, but their growth efficiency was higher. a NOSC was positively correlated with oxygen removal rates (R = 0.66, p = 0.0099, n = 13), and b inversely correlated with bacterioplankton growth efficiencies (BGEs; R = −0.67, p = 0.0004, n = 13). Noted on the top of the x-axis are predicted Gibbs free energies from LaRowe and van Cappellen (2011)29. The solid black best-fit line represents the weighted model II linear fit, and the dotted lines represent 95% confidence intervals. The error bars represent standard deviations.