Journal ArticleDOI
Testing the iron hypothesis in ecosystems of the equatorial Pacific Ocean
John H. Martin,Kenneth H. Coale,Kenneth S. Johnson,Kenneth S. Johnson,Steve E. Fitzwater,R. M. Gordon,S. J. Tanner,Craig N. Hunter,Virginia A. Elrod,Jocelyn L. Nowicki,Teresa L. Coley,Richard T. Barber,Steven T. Lindley,Andrew J. Watson,K. A. Van Scoy,Cliff S. Law,M.I. Liddicoat,R. D. Ling,Timothy P. Stanton,J. Stockel,Clare E. Collins,A. Anderson,Robert R. Bidigare,Michael Ondrusek,Mikel Latasa,Frank J. Millero,Kitack Lee,W. Yao,J. Z. Zhang,Gernot E. Friederich,Carole M. Sakamoto,Francisco P. Chavez,Kurt R. Buck,Zbigniew Kolber,Richard M. Greene,Paul G. Falkowski,Sallie W. Chisholm,Frank E. Hoge,Robert N. Swift,James K. Yungel,Suzanne M. Turner,Philip D. Nightingale,Angela D. Hatton,Peter S. Liss,Neil Tindale +44 more
TLDR
Findings indicate that iron limitation can control rates of phytoplankton productivity and biomass in the ocean.Abstract:
The idea that iron might limit phytoplankton growth in large regions of the ocean has been tested by enriching an area of 64 km2 in the open equatorial Pacific Ocean with iron This resulted in a doubling of plant biomass, a threefold increase in chlorophyll and a fourfold increase in plant production Similar increases were found in a chlorophyll-rich plume down-stream of the Galapagos Islands, which was naturally enriched in iron These findings indicate that iron limitation can control rates of phytoplankton productivity and biomass in the oceanread more
Citations
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Book
The Ecology of Phytoplankton
TL;DR: Reynolds as discussed by the authors provides basic information on composition, morphology and physiology of the main phyletic groups represented in marine and freshwater systems and reviews recent advances in community ecology, developing an appreciation of assembly processes, co-existence and competition, disturbance and diversity.
Journal ArticleDOI
A mesoscale phytoplankton bloom in the polar Southern Ocean stimulated by iron fertilization
Philip W. Boyd,Andrew J. Watson,Cliff S. Law,Edward R. Abraham,Thomas W. Trull,Rob C. Murdoch,Dorothee C. E. Bakker,Andrew R. Bowie,Andrew R. Bowie,Ken O. Buesseler,Hoe Chang,Matthew A. Charette,Peter Croot,Ken Downing,Russell D. Frew,Mark Gall,Mark G. Hadfield,Julie A. Hall,Mike Harvey,Greg Jameson,Julie LaRoche,M.I. Liddicoat,R. D. Ling,Maria T. Maldonado,Maria T. Maldonado,R. Michael L. McKay,Scott D. Nodder,Stu Pickmere,Rick Pridmore,Steve Rintoul,Karl A. Safi,Philip Sutton,Robert F. Strzepek,Kim Tanneberger,Suzanne M. Turner,Anya M. Waite,John Zeldis +36 more
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that iron supply controls phytoplankton growth and community composition during summer in these polar Southern Ocean waters, but the fate of algal carbon remains unknown and depends on the interplay between the processes controlling export, remineralisation and timescales of water mass subduction.
A mesoscale phytoplankton bloom in the polar Southern Ocean stimulated by iron
W. Boyd,Andrew R. Bowie,Ken O. Buesseler,Hoe Chang,Matthew A. Charette,Peter Croot,Ken Downing,Russell D. Frew,Mark G. Hadfield,Mike Harvey,Greg Jameson,Julie LaRoche,M.I. Liddicoat,R. D. Ling,Maria T. Maldonado,R. Michael L. McKay,Scott D. Nodder,Stu Pickmere,Steve Rintoul,Karl A. Safi,Philip Sutton,Robert F. Strzepek,Kim Tanneberger,Suzanne M. Turner,Anya M. Waite,John Zeldis,Drake Circus +26 more
Journal Article
A massive phytoplankton bloom induced by an ecosystem-scale iron fertilization experiment in the equatorial Pacific Ocean
TL;DR: The seeding of an expanse of surface waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean with low concentrations of dissolved iron triggered a massive phytoplankton bloom which consumed large quantities of carbon dioxide and nitrate that these microscopic plants cannot fully utilize under natural conditions as discussed by the authors.
Journal ArticleDOI
A massive phytoplankton bloom induced by an ecosystem-scale iron fertilization experiment in the equatorial Pacific Ocean
Kenneth H. Coale,Kenneth S. Johnson,Kenneth S. Johnson,Steve E. Fitzwater,R. Michael Gordon,S. J. Tanner,Francisco P. Chavez,Laurie Ferioli,Laurie Ferioli,Carole M. Sakamoto,Paul Rogers,Frank J. Millero,Paul A. Steinberg,Phil Nightingale,Phil Nightingale,David Neil Cooper,David Neil Cooper,William P. Cochlan,Michael R. Landry,John Constantinou,Gretchen Rollwagen,Armando Trasviña,Raphael M. Kudela,Raphael M. Kudela +23 more
TL;DR: Observations provide unequivocal support for the hypothesis that phytoplankton growth in this oceanic region is limited by iron bioavailability.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Iron deficiency limits phytoplankton growth in the north-east Pacific subarctic
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reported that the addition of nmol amounts of dissolved iron resulted in the nearly complete utilization of excess NO3, whereas in the controls, without added Fe, only 25% of the available NO3 was used.
Journal ArticleDOI
glacial-interglacial Co2 change : the iron hypothesis
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a hypothesis that new productivity in today's southern ocean is limited by iron deficiency, and hence the phytoplankton are unable to take advantage of the excess surface nitrate/phosphate that, if used, could result in total southern ocean new production of 2−3 × 1015 g C yr−1.
Journal ArticleDOI
Nutrient limitation of phytoplankton in freshwater and marine environments: A review of recent evidence on the effects of enrichment1
R. E. Hecky,Peter Kilham +1 more
TL;DR: It is concluded that the extent and severity of N limitation in the marine environment remain an open question, despite the fact that by the late seventies the evidence for P limitation had become so great that phosphorus control was recommended as the legislated basis for controlling eutrophication in North American and European inland waters.
Journal ArticleDOI
Evidence for slow mixing across the pycnocline from an open-ocean tracer-release experiment
Abstract: THE distributions of heat, salt and trace substances in the ocean thermocline depend on mixing along and across surfaces of equal density (isopycnal and diapycnal mixing, respectively). Measurements of the invasion of anthropogenic tracers, such as bomb tritium and 3He (see, for example, refs 1 and 2), have indicated that isopycnal processes dominate diapycnal mixing, and turbulence measurements have suggested that diapycnal mixing is small3,4, but it has not been possible to measure accurately the diapycnal diffusivity. Here we report such a measurement, obtained from the vertical dispersal of a patch of the inert compound SF6 released in the open ocean. The diapycnal diffusivity, averaged over hundreds of kilometres and five months, was 0.11 ± 0.02 cm2 s−1, confirming previous estimates1–4. Such a low diffusivity can support only a rather small diapycnal flux of nitrate into the euphotic zone; it justifies the neglect of diapycnal mixing in dynamic models of the thermocline25–27, and implies that heat, salt and tracers must penetrate the thermocline mostly by transport along, rather than across, density surfaces.
Journal ArticleDOI
Sampling and analytical methods for the determination of copper, cadmium, zinc, and nickel at the nanogram per liter level in sea water
TL;DR: In this paper, a dithiocarbamate extraction method coupled with atomic absorption spectrometry and electrothermal atomization is described which is essentially 100% quantitative for each of the four metals studied.
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A massive phytoplankton bloom induced by an ecosystem-scale iron fertilization experiment in the equatorial Pacific Ocean
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Iron deficiency limits phytoplankton growth in the north-east Pacific subarctic
A mesoscale phytoplankton bloom in the polar Southern Ocean stimulated by iron fertilization
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