- ATP in deep-sea sediments can be determined after it is adsorbed on a mixture of the sediment and calcium carbonate by measuring the luminescence of the reaction of the mixture and luciferin-luciferase.2. ATP contents of the toplayer of northeastern Atlantic sediments (Josephine Bank and northern Canary Basin) decrease with increasing depths of 252, 408, 1445, 1769, 2149, 4897, 5510m: 0.96, 0.61, 0.13, 0.10, 0.21, 0.05, 0.07 µg ATP/ml wet sediment. The decreasing values are in accordance with the decrease of macrobenthos and meiobenthos biomass in the deep-sea.3. The ATP content of deep-sea nematodes is about 1 ‰ of their wet weight.4. At the two deepest stations, less than 50% of the ATP measured in the sediment is represented by nematodes, copepods, other “hard” meiofauna groups and bacteria.
Supplement to: Ernst, Wolfgang; Goerke, Helmut (1974): Adenosin-5`-triphosphat (ATP) in Sedimenten und Nematoden der nordostatlantischen Tiefsee. Meteor Forschungsergebnisse, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Reihe C Geologie und Geophysik, Gebrüder Bornträger, Berlin, Stuttgart, C18, 35-42
