Journal Article10.1038/NATURE02550
Iron and phosphorus co-limit nitrogen fixation in the eastern tropical North Atlantic
963
TL;DR: The results support the hypothesis that aeolian mineral dust deposition promotes nitrogen fixation in the eastern tropical North Atlantic and show that community primary productivity was nitrogen-limited, and that nitrogen fixation was co-limited by iron and phosphorus.
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Abstract: The role of iron in enhancing phytoplankton productivity in high nutrient, low chlorophyll oceanic regions was demonstrated first through iron-addition bioassay experiments1 and subsequently confirmed by large-scale iron fertilization experiments2. Iron supply has been hypothesized to limit nitrogen fixation and hence oceanic primary productivity on geological timescales3, providing an alternative to phosphorus as the ultimate limiting nutrient4. Oceanographic observations have been interpreted both to confirm and refute this hypothesis5, 6, but direct experimental evidence is lacking7. We conducted experiments to test this hypothesis during the Meteor 55 cruise to the tropical North Atlantic. This region is rich in diazotrophs8 and strongly impacted by Saharan dust input9. Here we show that community primary productivity was nitrogen-limited, and that nitrogen fixation was co-limited by iron and phosphorus. Saharan dust addition stimulated nitrogen fixation, presumably by supplying both iron and phosphorus10, 11. Our results support the hypothesis that aeolian mineral dust deposition promotes nitrogen fixation in the eastern tropical North Atlantic.
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Citations
Resource ratios determine nutrient limitation of primary productivity in the ocean
TL;DR: In this article, the authors use a simple model of nitrogen, phosphorus, and iron cycling to show how the resource demand ratios and biogeography of phytoplankton interact with resource supply ratios to govern nutrient cycling and primary productivity.
Mechanisms of increased Trichodesmium fitness under iron and phosphorus co-limitation in the present and future ocean.
Nathan G. Walworth,Fei-Xue Fu,Eric A. Webb,Mak A. Saito,Dawn M. Moran,Matthew R. Mcllvin,Michael D. Lee,David A. Hutchins +7 more
TL;DR: It is suggested that N2-fixing microbes may be significantly impacted by interactions between elevated CO2 and nutrient limitation, with broad implications for global biogeochemical cycles in the future ocean.
Method for High Frequency Underway N2 Fixation Measurements: Flow-Through Incubation Acetylene Reduction Assays by Cavity Ring Down Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (FARACAS).
TL;DR: The short-duration of the flow-through incubations without preconcentration of cells minimizes potential artifacts such as bottle containment effects while providing near real-time estimates for adaptive sampling, and is expected to improve the characterization of the biogeography and kinetics of aquatic N2 fixation rates.
Latitudinal distributions of particulate carbon export across the North Western Atlantic Ocean
Viena Puigcorbé,Viena Puigcorbé,Montserrat Roca-Martí,Pere Masqué,Pere Masqué,Pere Masqué,Claudia R. Benitez-Nelson,Michiel M Rutgers van der Loeff,Astrid Bracher,Sébastien Moreau +9 more
- 01 Nov 2017
TL;DR: In this article, the authors measured the C/234Th-derived carbon export fluxes in the Atlantic Ocean under the GEOTRACES framework to evaluate basin-scale export variability.
Costs of Dust Collection by Trichodesmium: Effect on Buoyancy and Toxic Metal Release
Siyuan Wang,Futing Zhang,Coco Koedooder,Odeta Qafoku,Subhajit Basu,Stephan Krisch,Anna-Neva Visser,Meri Eichner,Nivi Kessler,Rene M. Boiteau,Martha Gledhill,Yeala Shaked +11 more
- 01 Apr 2024
TL;DR: Dust collection by Trichodesmium enhances its sinking velocity and causes mortality at high dust loads, but the observed lethal dose far exceeds dust concentrations measured in natural systems.
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