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.
read more
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.
read more
Chat with Paper
AI Agents for this Paper
Find similar papers on Google Scholar, PubMed and Arxiv
Write a critical review of this paper
Analyze citations of this paper to find unaddressed research gaps
Citations
Nitrogen fixation in the western coastal Bay of Bengal: Controlling factors and contribution to primary production
TL;DR: In this paper , N2 fixation rates were measured at 18 stations in the western coastal Bay of Bengal (BoB) to evaluate its contribution to the external source of nitrogen and its controlling factors.
11
Aerobic methane production by phytoplankton as an important methane source of aquatic ecosystems: Reconsidering the global methane budget
Hong Li,Ruixu He,Kailai Ye,Weiwei Yu,Qiang He +4 more
TL;DR: This review comprehensively summarizes the widespread phenomena of methane supersaturation in oxic layers and would provide guidance for future studies of aerobic methane production by phytoplankton and emphasize the potential contribution of aquatic ecosystems to global methane budget.
10
•Dissertation
Le fer à l'interface océan-atmosphère : Flux et processus de dissolution dans l'eau de mer.
Thibaut Wagener
- 01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: In this article, a parametrization integrant ces different forcages is proposed, in which the processus instantane is controle par des parametres physico-chimiques des particules, which depend a la fois de la nature (source) and de l'histoire (transport dans l'atmosphere des particles) des aerosols a l'interface ocean-atmospheres.
10
•Dissertation
The importance of dissolved organic nutrients in the biogeochemistry of oligotrophic gyres
Angela Landolfi
- 01 Jan 2005
TL;DR: In the permanently stratified North Atlantic subtropical gyre, N2 fixation and the bioavailability of organic N and P appear to be major mechanisms for supplying nutrients and sustaining phytoplankton growth.
10
A model for the interaction of phytoplankton aggregates and the environment: approximation and parameter estimation
Azmy S. Ackleh,Robert L. Miller +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, a model for the dynamics of phytoplankton aggregates and their interaction with the environment in a well-mixed reactor or surface layer of a water column is presented.
10
References
•Journal Article
The biological control of chemical factors in the environment.
3.7K
Fluorometric analysis of chlorophyll a in the presence of chlorophyll b and pheopigments
TL;DR: A fluorometric method is described which provides sensitive measurements of extracted chlorophyll a free from the errors associated with conventional acidification techniques and provides adequate sensitivity for small sample sizes even in the most oligotrophic marine and freshwater environments.
2.6K
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.
2.1K
The relative influences of nitrogen and phosphorus on oceanic primary production
TL;DR: In this article, the competition between nitrogenfixing and other phytoplankton is inserted into a two-box global model of the oceanic nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, with surface waters more deficient in nitrate than phosphate in the steady state.
1.6K