The distribution and bacterial availability of dissolved neutral sugars were studied in the South East Pacific from October to December 2004 during the BIOSOPE cruise. Four contrasted sites were investigated: Marquesas Islands (MAR), the hyper-oligotrophic South Pacific Gyre (GYR), the eastern part of the Gyre (EGY), and the coastal waters associated to upwelling of Chile (UPW). Total (free and combined) dissolved neutral sugar (TDNS) concentrations were higher in UPW (149-329 nM) and MAR (111-540nM), than in GYR (79-390 nM) and EGY (58-492 nM). Nevertheless, their contribution to dissolved organic carbon (TDNS-C/DOC%) was generally low for all sites varying from 0.5% to 4% indicating that our South East Pacific surface waters were relatively poor in neutral sugars.
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