Showing papers by "Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution published in 1971"
TL;DR: Removal of phosphate from detergents is not likely to slow the eutrophication of coastal marine waters, and its replacement with nitrogen-containing nitrilotriacetic acid may worsen the situation.
Abstract: The distribution of inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus and bioassay experiments both show that nitrogen is the critical limiting factor to algal growth and eutrophication in coastal marine waters. About twice the amount of phosphate as can be used by the algae is normally present. This surplus results from the low nitrogen to phosphorus ratio in terrigenous contributions, including human waste, and from the fact that phosphorus regenerates more quickly than ammonia from decomposing organic matter. Removal of phosphate from detergents is therefore not likely to slow the eutrophication of coastal marine waters, and its replacement with nitrogen-containing nitrilotriacetic acid may worsen the situation.
1,828 citations
TL;DR: Hydrocarbon analysis of marine algae should provide a tool for the investigation of the dynamics of the marine food chain and provides the background needed for distinguishing between hydrocarbons of recent biogenic origin and hydrocarbon pollutants from fossil fuels.
Abstract: The hydrocarbon contents of 23 species of algae (22 marine planktonic), belonging to 9 algal classes, were analyzed. The highly unsaturated 3,6,9,12,15,18-heneicosalhexaene predominates in the Bacillariophyceae, Dinophyceae, Cryptophyceae, Haptophyceae and Euglenophyceae. Rhizosolenia setigera contains n-heneicosane, presumably derived from the hexaolefin by hydrogenation. Two isomeric heptadecenes have been isolated: the double bond is located in 5-position in the bluegreen alga Synechococcus bacillaris and in 7-position in 2 green algae. Our complete analyses are discussed in the context of earlier data; some generalizations appear no longer valid. Hydrocarbon analysis of marine algae should provide a tool for the investigation of the dynamics of the marine food chain. Knowledge now available provides the background needed for distinguishing between hydrocarbons of recent biogenic origin and hydrocarbon pollutants from fossil fuels.
550 citations
TL;DR: This paper will try to show what kind of useful range at least one sound made by one baleen whale species, the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), might have and will suggest that its function includes long range signaling.
Abstract: With very few exceptions, whales are social animals. Even though they may be widely dispersed at some seasons, most species congregate in herds during some portion of the year. As a general rule, small, toothed whales form the largest herds, which frequently contain hundreds, and exceptionally tens of thousands, of animals, whereas the much larger baleen whales, when found in herds at all, most often travel in bands of less than 20 animals, with only occasional reports of herds of up to 1,000 animals or more.’ There has been considerable speculation on the functional significance of herd behavior in whales, but it seems unlikely that we will get any closer to understanding the role of herd behavior until we know more about what constitutes a herd. In general usage, the word “herd” seems to mean a group of animals that are in close enough proximity to offer visible evidence to an observer (usually on the deck of a boat) that their behavior is linked (i.e., they are swimming in the same direction, or breathing in rough synchrony, or feeding in the same area or resting together, and so on). But this is a visual judgment of what may be principally an acoustic phenomenon, and therefore is more than likely to be inappropriate. Since sound is conducted in the ocean so well and light so poorly, a functional social group of whales may be held together by sound rather than sight and may stretch far beyond the horizon visible from a boat, or even from an airplane, and what appears to be a lone individual may in fact be an animal traveling in company with one or many companions some miles away-by our definition, a whale in acoustic contact with another whale is not alone. This paper is concerned with baleen whales. Baleen whales are reticent laboratory subjects. In the absence of direct experimental evidence we might be able to get some idea of how far apart they can be and still be in acoustic contact by calculating how far their sounds might travel before being lost in the background noise of the ocean. Such calculations, while based in part on measured values, are also based on assumptions and remain theoretical. However, because of the exponential nature of acoustic phenomena, they are probably not entirely misleading. In this paper we will try to show what kind of useful range at least one sound made by one baleen whale species, the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) , might have and will suggest that its function includes long range signaling. We have chosen fin whales because they make exceptionally loud, low frequency sounds that have been the object of considerable study in recent years. It must be borne in mind throughout this paper that we are nor postulating meaningful communication of complex information among distant whales. Our remarks are concerned solely with simple signaling of place, for purposes of closing range and nothing more-in human terms, a message containing no more information than “there is a fin whale here.” Our thesis is that fin whales, and Rockefeller University and The New York Zoological Society, New York, N . Y .
339 citations
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TL;DR: Telemetry experiments show that the bluefin tuna can maintain a constant deep body temperature during marked changes in the temperature of its environment, suggesting the selective advantages of greater speed made possible by the warm muscle were important in the evolution of this system.
Abstract: SYNOPSIS. Two groups of fishes, the tuna and the lamnid sharks, have evolved ounter-currentheat-exchange mechanisms for conserving metabolic heat and raising their body temperatures. Warm muscle can produce more power, and considering the other adaptations for fast swimming in these fish, it seems likely that the selective advantages of greater speed made possible by the warm muscle were important in the evolution of this system. Some tunas such as the yellowfin and skip jack are at a fixed temperature difference above the water, but bluefin tuna can thermoregulate. Telemetry experiments show that the bluefin tuna can maintain a constant deep body temperature during marked changes in the temperature of its environment.
261 citations
TL;DR: The authors' analyses of the hydrocarbons in benthic marine algae from coastal environments should aid studies of the coastal food web and should enable us to distinguish between hydrocarbon pollutants and the natural hydrocarbon background in inshore waters.
Abstract: Saturated and olefinic hydrocarbons were determined in 24 species of green, brown and red benthic marine algae from the Cape Cod area (Massachusetts, USA). Among the saturated hydrocarbons, n-pentadecane predominates in the brown and n-heptadecane in the red algae. A C17 alkyleyclopropane has been identified tentatively in Ulvalactuca and Enteromorpha compressa, two species of green algae. Mono-and diolefinic C15 and C17 hydrocarbons are common. The structures of several new C17, C19 and C21 mono-to hexaolefins have been elucidated by gas chromatography, mass spectrometry and ozonolysis. In fruiting Ascophyllum nodosum, the polyunsaturated hydrocarbons carbons occur exclusively in the reproductive structures. The rest of the plant contains n-alkanes from C15 to C21. A link between the reproductive chemistry of benthic and planktonic algae and their olefin content is suggested. An intriguing speculation is based on Paffenhofer's (1970) observation that the sex ratio of laboratory reared Calanus helgolandicus depends upon the species of algae fed to the nauplii. The percentage of males produced correlates with our analyses of heneicosahexaene in the algal food. Our analyses of the hydrocarbons in benthic marine algae from coastal environments should aid studies of the coastal food web and should enable us to distinguish between hydrocarbon pollutants and the natural hydrocarbon background in inshore waters.
201 citations
200 citations
TL;DR: This work isolated, identified and quantitatively determined major components present in seawater extracts of several crude oils and a kerosene that are important for the solubility of oil and oil products in water systems.
Abstract: IN spite of very convincing evidence to the contrary, crude oil and oil products are still occasionally considered to be “insoluble” in aqueous systems. In view of recent reports of major ecological disruptions caused by oil pollution1,2, it seemed imperative to collect more data on the solubility of oil and oil products in water systems3,4. We have isolated, identified and quantitatively determined major components present in seawater extracts of several crude oils and a kerosene.
187 citations
TL;DR: Two new nitrite oxidizing bacteria for which the names Nitrococcus mobilis and Nitrospina gracilis are proposed were isolated from the marine environment and both are obligate marine organisms and both have unique tubular cytomembranes.
Abstract: Two new nitrite oxidizing bacteria for which the names Nitrococcus mobilis and Nitrospina gracilis are proposed were isolated from the marine environment. Nitrococcus mobilis was cultured from South Pacific waters and it is a large motile coccus with unique tubular cytomembranes. Nitrospina gracilis was isolated from South Atlantic waters and it is a long slender rod which lacks an extensive cytomembrane system. Both are obligate marine organisms and both are obligate chemoautotrophs. The fine structure of these organisms is detailed.
181 citations
TL;DR: Food materials from the sunken and recovered research submarine Alvin were found to be in a strikingly well-preserved state after exposure for more than 10 months to deep-sea conditions, and it was indicated that rates of microbial degradation were 10 to 100 times slower in the deep sea than in controls under comparable temperatures.
Abstract: Food materials from the sunken and recovered research submarine Alvin were found to be in a strikingly well-preserved state after exposure for more than 10 months to deep-sea conditions. Subsequent experiments substantiated this observation and indicated that rates of microbial degradation were 10 to 100 times slower in the deep sea than in controls under comparable temperatures.
175 citations
TL;DR: The Verna Fracture Zone in the North Atlantic (9 to 11° N) contains exposures of serpentinized peridotites, while its adjacent ridge segments are floored mainly by typical abyssal ocean ridge basalts as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The Verna Fracture Zone in the North Atlantic (9 to 11° N), which has been identified as a transform fault zone, contains exposures of serpentinized peridotites, while its adjacent ridge segments are floored mainly by typical abyssal ocean ridge basalts. This petrologic contrast correlates with the greater frequency of volcanic eruptions along the actively spreading ridge segments compared to the transform fault zone. Where rifting components occur across transform faults, exposures of the deeper zone of oceanic crust may result. The bathymetry of the Verna Fracture Zone suggests that some uplift parallel to the fracture zone as well as rifting led to exposures of deeper rocks. The basalts from the adjacent ridge axes contain ‘xenocrysts’ of plagioclase and olivine and more rarely of chromite. These appear to have a cognate origin, perhaps related to cooling and convection in near surface magma chambers. The basalts from the ridge axes, offset and on opposite sides of the transform fault, have similar features and compositions. The plagioclase peridotites have mineralogical features which indicate equilibration in the plagioclase pyrolite facies, suggesting maximum equilibration depths of around 30 km for a temperature of around 1200 °C. The chemical characteristics of the Vema F.Z. peridotites suggest that they may be undifferentiated mantle, emplaced as a subsolidus hot plastic intrusion or as a crystal mush. The abundance of peridotites and serpentinized peridotites is believed to reflect their abundance in seismic layer three of the oceanic crust.
161 citations
TL;DR: The water chemistry of Lake Tanganyika is uniform throughout its entire length and depth except for the nutrient minerals ammonia, nitrate, phosphate, and silica, which can be linked to the chemical and in turn biological evolution of the lake as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The water chemistry of the lake is uniform throughout its entire length and depth except for the nutrient minerals ammonia, nitrate, phosphate, and silica. Sediment fill in the lake is very massive. Because the sediments are almost entirely composed of biological debris, changes in the fossil inventory can be linked to the chemical and in turn biological evolution of the lake. Rates of depositions are about 30 to 50 cm per 1 000 years in the deep basins and 5 cm per 1 000 years in the sill area separating the southern and northern basins. Seismic profiles indicate graben-type structures. Magnetic surveys reveal no magnetic lineation typical of rifting. Free air and simple Bouguer anomalies suggest that lake and land structures are grossly similar. Low heat flow and similarity with surrounding values in Africa is consistent with a lack of active volcanicity and sea-floor spreading in Lake Tanganyika. A new concept on the evolution of a rift is proposed.
TL;DR: A lack of experimental evidence, even in reports on crustacean mating behaviour, is remarkable considering the economic importance of such Crustacea as lobsters and shrimp and the benefits for culturing these animals, if a sex pheromone were known and available.
Abstract: SEXUAL recognition and attraction in many insects have been shown to involve chemical communicants called pheromones1, and these results are widely applied in agriculture2. In contrast very little is known about (sex) pheromones in crustaceans, the only experimental verification being that of Ryan3 who observed that males of the Pacific crab, Portunus sanguinolentus, displayed towards water from premoult females. No response was obtained after the excretory pores of the females had been sealed. A few other publications on crustacean behaviour and natural history suggest such a chemical communication system. Berry4 observed in Panulirus homarus that “male lobsters show sudden attraction to particular sexually mature females” and speculated that the tegumentary glands may be involved. Hughes and Matthiessen5 stated that “it appears as if the freshly moulted female (Homarus americanus) exerts a chemical attraction on the male”. Some other indications for the existence of a sex pheromonecan be found6 without experimental evidence, however. This lack of experimental evidence, even in reports on crustacean mating behaviour7, is remarkable considering the economic importance of such Crustacea as lobsters and shrimp and the benefits for culturing these animals, if a sex pheromone were known and available.
TL;DR: Clones of Phaeocystis were isolated from winter surface waters off Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and from the tropical Atlantic near Surinam, South America, and both strains belong to the species P. poucheti (Hariot) Lagerheim.
Abstract: SUMMARY
Clones of Phaeocystis were isolated from winter surface waters off Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and from the tropical Atlantic near Surinam, South America. Northern strains survived only up to 14 C, while the tropical strain survived only as low as 17 C. Colony shapes of the northern and tropical clones differed somewhat, but the motile and non-motile single cells of both strains seemed identical in the light microscope. By current taxonomic criteria both strains belong to the species P. poucheti (Hariot) Lagerheim.
When growing in the form of colonies, both strains excreted 16–64% of their photoassimilated carbon into the medium, mainly as carbohydrates of varying molecular weights. However, cultures predominantly in the form of single cells released only about 3% of their photoassimilated carbon. The qualitative composition of the carbohydrates released is similar for the 2 strains, consisting of some 8 sugars or sugar derivatives with glucose, mannose, and rhamnose as the dominant components. The production of acrylic acid was confirmed. We estimate that as much as 7 μg/liter of acrylic acid, and at least 0.3 mg/liter of polysaccharides can be liberated in a Phaeocystis bloom.
TL;DR: In this paper, it was shown that with ionospheric propagation and time-gating techniques relatively small patches of the ocean (∼100 km2) can be sampled successively at ranges extending up to several thousand kilometres.
Abstract: RADIO backscatter from the sea surface has attracted considerable attention because of its potentiality for remote measurement of sea state. Ward1, for example, has shown that with ionospheric propagation and time-gating techniques relatively small patches of the ocean (∼100 km2) can be sampled successively at ranges extending up to several thousand kilometres. The ocean wave origin of the sea echo has been established clearly1–6, but the success of the method rests ultimately on the ability to recover the ocean wave spectrum—or at least significant parameters of the spectrum—from the properties of the returned radio signal.
TL;DR: An iron (II) hydroxide coprecipitation method is used for the concentration of plutonium in sea water and a nitric-hydrochloric acid leaching method is adapted for the treatment of sediments and ashed organisms.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explain the high heat flow and the shape of the Vema fracture as the results of secondary sea-floor spreading produced by a reorientation of the direction of sea floor spreading from W10°N to west-east.
Abstract: At 11°N latitude, the Mid-Atlantic ridge is offset 300 km by the Vema fracture zone. Between the ridge offset, the fracture consists of an elongate, parallelogram-shaped trough bordered on the north and south by narrow, high walls. The W-E trending valley floor is segmented by basement ridges and troughs which trend W10°N and are deeply buried by sediment. Uniform high heat flow characterizes the valley area. Seismically inactive valleys south of the Vema fracture, also trending W10°N, are interpreted as relict fracture zones. We explain the high heat flow and the shape of the Vema fracture as the results of secondary sea-floor spreading produced by a reorientation of the direction of sea-floor spreading from W10°N to west-east. This reorientation probably began approximately 10 million years ago. Rapid filling of the fracture valley by turbidites from the Demerara Abyssal plain took place during the last million years.
TL;DR: In this article, the organic carbon budget of the Black Sea has been assessed assuming a steady state for the last 2000 years and the outstanding features of the budget are: (1) between 80 and 95% of the organic-carbon input near the surface is recycled in the top 200 m.
TL;DR: The gross morphology, fine structure, and per cent guanine plus cytosine (GC) composition of deoxyribonucleic acid of 27 strains of nitrifying bacteria were compared and it was found that Nitrospina gracilis had a significantly lower GC composition than the members of the other two genera.
Abstract: The gross morphology, fine structure, and per cent guanine plus cytosine (GC) composition of deoxyribonucleic acid of 27 strains of nitrifying bacteria were compared. Based on morphological differences, the ammonia-oxidizing bacteria were separated into four genera. Nitrosomonas species and Nitrosocystis species formed one homogenous group, and Nitrosolobus species and Nitrosospira species formed a second homogenous group in respect to their deoxyribonucleic acid GC compositions. Similarly, the nitrite-oxidizing bacteria were separated into three genera based on their morphology. The members of two of these nitrite-oxidizing genera, Nitrobacter and Nitrococcus, had similar GC compositions, but Nitrospina gracilis had a significantly lower GC composition than the members of the other two genera.
TL;DR: In this paper, the bottom currents and populations of large epifauna were surveyed using bottom photography in the Pamlico axis of the Hatteras Submarine Canyon system, and the bottom current was to the southwest along the lower continental rise, but turned to the west and northwest, or up the canyon, at lesser depths.
TL;DR: The vertical distribution of urea in Peruvian waters, waters along the northeast United States, as well as Sargasso Sea waters showed considerable fluctuations with depth but there were indications of peaks.
Abstract: The distribution of urea has been determined for certain coastal and oceanic waters. The presence of urea-nitrogen in surface waters off the continental shelf between Panama and Callao, Peru, was extremely patchy and varied in concentration from 0.54-5.00 pgatom urea-N/liter. The higher values were generally from samples collected within a foam slick or windrow. Surface waters in nonupwelling waters north of Callao, Peru, averaged 1.83 ,ug-atom urea-N/liter while surface waters in upwelling waters south of Callao averaged 3.46. Along the continental shelf of the northeast United States between Cape Cod and Cape May, the concentration of urea ranged from 0.25 ,ug-atom urea-N/liter on the l,OOO-fathom ( 1,830 m) line to a high of 11.20 within New York Harbor. The vertical distribution of urea in Peruvian waters, waters along the northeast United States, as well as Sargasso Sea waters showed considerable fluctuations with depth but there were indications of peaks. The data support the suggestion that urea may serve as an available source of nitrogen for phytoplankton growth.
TL;DR: In this article, a 3-month period (September to December, 1969) measurements with an airborne radiation thermometer and air-dropped BT's revealed the existence of a northward meander of the Gulf Stream, its amplification and the production of an anticyclonic eddy (diameter ca. 100 km).
TL;DR: In this paper, the renewal of the North Carolina Shelf Waters are discussed on the basis of temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, nutrients, runoff and wind data collected during 1965-1967.
TL;DR: In this article, a study of the distribution of rings formed by the separation of large enclosed meanders of the Gulf Stream is presented, and approximately 200,000 bathythermograph records previously taken in the western North Atlantic were used to detect these structures.
TL;DR: Seawater diluted with secondcary-treated sewage effluent provides excellent enrichment for the maintenance of mixed natural populations of marine phytoplankton in continuous culture.
Abstract: ABST33ACT Seawater diluted with secondcary-treated sewage effluent provides excellent enrichment for the maintenance of mixed natural populations of marine phytoplankton in continuous culture. Treated effluent, sampled over 1 year, was consistent in the ratios of plant nutrients and similar in its properties of plant growth stimulation and level of toxicity. The heterogeneous continuous culture system produced large quantities of plant carbon with the concomitant removal of nitrogen and phosphorus from sewage effluent. The plant species that grew in the continuous cultures were common to the typical coastal phytoplankton and the selection and elimination of sDecies was gradual considering the chemical complexity of the sewage effluent enrichment.
TL;DR: Nitrosolobus multiformis is a lobular shaped, previously undescribed ammonia-oxidizing bacterium that was isolated from soil samples obtained in various parts of the world and is morphologically unique and easily distinguishable from all other microorganisms.
Abstract: Nitrosolobus multiformis is a lobular shaped, previously undescribed ammonia-oxidizing bacterium. The organism is ubiquitous and was isolated from soil samples obtained in various parts of the world. Its lobular nature and its internal, partially compartmentalized cytoplasm makes it morphologically unique and easily distinguishable from all other microorganisms. Physiological compartmentalization also occurs and is characterized by glycogen deposition in the peripheral compartments of the cell. The cells are obligate chemoautotrophs using CO2 and ammonia as primary carbon and energy sources. Its obligate chemoautotrophic nature stems primarily from a metabolic deficiency. Even though the cells cannot be grown on an organic medium the cells still have a slight heterotrophic potential and are able to oxidize and assimilate minute amounts of acetate in the absence of an inorganic energy source.
01 Oct 1971
TL;DR: A review of recently acquired knowledge of modern dinoflagellate cysts that have micropaleontological interest and a brief discussion of some of the biological problems that concern them are devoted.
Abstract: Considerable progress has been made in the last few years toward a solution to an old micropaleontological problem, namely, that of the “biological affinities of hystrichospheres.” Today it can be said with some certainty that hystrichospheres (sensu stricto) as well as “typical” fossil dinoflagellates are homologous with the resting cysts or spores of living peridinealean dinoflagellates, but this does not completely resolve the original problem. Several important aspects of the biology of modern dinoflagellate cysts are very poorly understood or documented. These biological matters include the causes and mode of cyst formation and the genetic and physiological functions they perform. This contribution is devoted firstly to a review of recently acquired knowledge of modern dinoflagellate cysts that have micropaleontological interest and, secondly to a brief discussion of some of the biological problems that concern them.
TL;DR: Results from a recent geological and geophysical survey in the Mozambique Channel show a north-south ridgelike feature and favor the theory that Madagascar fitted against Somalia rather than against Mozambiques to the west.
Abstract: The main paleopositions that have been proposed for Madagascar are examined after a recent geological and geophysical survey in the Mozambique Channel. Results from that survey show a north-south ridgelike feature and favor the theory that Madagascar fitted against Somalia rather than against Mozambique to the west.
TL;DR: Variations in annual river inflow account for 7 to 21 percent of the total variation in average annual sea level along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States.
Abstract: Variations in annual river inflow account for 7 to 21 percent of the total variation in average annual sea level along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States. This compares with 29 to 68 percent of the total variation that can be attributed to the secular rise of sea level, and with 10 to 50 percent of the variation that cannot be attributed to either the river inflow or the secular rise.
TL;DR: Most coralline algae contain considerably more magnesium in their calcitic skeletons than can be explained by the shift in their x-ray diffraction peaks as mentioned in this paper, and part of this excess magnesium is explained by local concentrations of higher magnesian calcite within the skeleton.
Abstract: Most coralline algae contain considerably more magnesium in their calcitic skeletons than can be explained by the shift in their x-ray diffraction peaks. Part of this excess magnesium is explained by local concentrations of higher magnesian calcite within the skeleton. Utilization of these higher magnesian phases may have generic and ecologic implications. Data also suggest that an additional phase, perhaps brucite, may be responsible for the remainder of the excess magnesium.