Biological production and spatial variation of dimethylated sulfur compounds and their relation with plankton in the North Yellow Sea

•Biogenic sulfur concentrations exhibited obvious spatial variations in the NYS.•DMS and DMSP concentrations had higher values in the NYS than in the ECS and SCS.•Less DMS and DMSP in NYS was released in winter than in spring and summer.•DMSPp, relative to DMSPd, was the principal source of DMS in surface water.•The microbial consumption was the crucial sink for DMS in the upper water column.

The concentrations of dimethylated sulfur compounds and chlorophyll a, as well as biological production and consumption rates of dimethylsulfide (DMS), were measured in the surface water of the North Yellow Sea (NYS, 37–40°N to 121–124°E) in winter 2007. Surface DMS, dissolved and particulate dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSPd and DMSPp) concentrations in the study area increased significantly from offshore to inshore sites, with the average values of 2.00, 4.52 and 7.21 nM, respectively. The biological production and consumption rates of DMS were estimated, with the average values of 5.41 and 3.84 nM d−1, respectively. The spatial variation of chlorophyll a was consistent with that of DMS and DMSP, as well as with that of DMS biological production, suggesting that phytoplankton biomass might play an important role in controlling the distribution of DMS and DMSP in the study area. According to the collective data of dimethylated sulfur compounds and DMS biological conversion in China Seas, the dimethylated sulfur compounds concentrations in the NYS during winter were a factor of 2 and 1.3 higher than those in the East China Sea and South China Sea, respectively. Less DMS (DMSP) in NYS was released in winter than that in spring and summer, which could be attributed to the shift in phytoplankton community composition dominated by diatoms to non-diatoms from winter to summer. Quantitative comparison analysis pointed to DMSPp rather than DMSPd as an important precursor of DMS in the surface water. The estimated sea-to-air fluxes of DMS using Liss and Merlivat (LM86), Wanninkhof (W92) and Nightingale (N2000) formulae were 2.72, 5.12 and 4.28 μmol m−2 d−1, respectively. In the surface water, the biological turnover time of DMS varied from 0.21 to 1.73 d with an average of 0.83 d, which was about 5.43-fold faster than the mean DMS sea–air turnover time (3.12 d), implying that microbial consumption was a main sink of DMS in the surface water.