Starting concentrations and drawdown of TOC, Bacterial carbon demand (BCD), and bacterial growth efficiency (BGE) on DOM released by benthic producers.

For each parameter minimum, median, and maximum values are reported (min, med, max) rather than means because of the variation in size of benthic organism in each incubation. Pairwise two-tailed t-test p-values are reported (pairwise) for rates to determine if changes from the start to the end of the incubation differed significantly from zero. Tukey tests are reported comparing means among treatments (different letters indicate significant difference in means at α = 0.05; letters in bold italic denote treatments significantly different from control treatments). *Cultures amended with Porites exudates showed no significant change in DOC over the course of the incubation and therefore BGE could not be estimated. Note also that, due to sample collection vial contamination DOC removal in cultures amended with CCA and Turf exudates are not shown.