University of North Carolina at Wilmington

About: University of North Carolina at Wilmington is a education organization based out in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 3329 authors who have published 6797 publications receiving 186308 citations.

Impacts of cetaceans on the structure of Southern Ocean food webs

Abstract: Recently, Ballance et al. (2006) revived the hypothesis that cetaceans were a major force in the structuring of Southern Ocean food webs, and suggested that they are still playing a keystone role even as their loss continues (see also review in Mori and Butterworth 2006), a subject that we herein would like to emphasize. According to this hypothesis, following 60 yr of directed industrial whaling (Tonnessen and Johnsen 1982, Baker and Clapham 2002), the demise of the great whales (blue, Balaenoptera musculus intermedia; fin, B. physalus; and humpback, Megaptera novaeangliae) led to changes in populations and demographic parameters among penguins, seals, and minke whales (B. bonaerensis; see also Laws 1977, Bengtson and Laws 1985). These changes to populations of the great whales’ competitors came about upon release from trophic competition as a result of the "krill surplus" that ensued (i.e., of Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba; Bengtson and Laws 1985).

A brief overview of modern directions in marine DOC studies part II--recent progress in marine DOC studies.

Abstract: Progress made in analytical techniques allows the formulation of new concepts in the biogeochemistry of organic carbon. The second part of our review summarizes the latest evolution and introduces new ideas in the biogeochemistry of marine dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Via classification of different fractions and sources of DOC, characterization of its composition, age and availability for bacterial utilization, and fate of DOC, we show the role of DOC in the global carbon cycle and the significance of bulk DOC in the oceans. Special emphasis is placed on the microbial loop in the cycling of DOC and its relation with higher trophic levels (phytoplankton and zooplankton). Significant progress has also been made in the study of the roles of colloidal organic material in metal complexation, ultraviolet radiation in dissolved organic matter photochemical oxidation, and chromophore-containing constituents of DOC as the signature of DOC for satellite observations. The importance of bulk DOC in the global carbon cycle requires the inclusion of this fraction in the regional and global carbon models. We predict that future DOC study in the ocean will focus on the development of sophisticated, almost continuously recording, moored DOC instrument arrays for the monitoring of small-scale DOC horizontal and vertical patchiness; widespread time series stations including estuarine, coastal and open environments; more detailed chemical characterization of different fractions of organic carbon from diverse marine habitats; parameterization of predictive models of DOC cycling on regional and global scales, incorporating the microbial loop; and finally, monitoring of DOC dynamics from satellites on regional and global scales.