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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Dynamics And Distribution Of Natural And Human-Caused Hypoxia, N. N. Rabalais, R. J. Diaz, L.A. Levin, R.E. Turner, D. Gilbert, J. Zhang
Dynamics And Distribution Of Natural And Human-Caused Hypoxia, N. N. Rabalais, R. J. Diaz, L.A. Levin, R.E. Turner, D. Gilbert, J. Zhang
VIMS Articles
Water masses can become undersaturated with oxygen when natural processes alone or in combination with anthropogenic processes produce enough organic carbon that is aerobically decomposed faster than the rate of oxygen re-aeration. The dominant natural processes usually involved are photosynthetic carbon production and microbial respiration. The re-supply rate is indirectly related to its isolation from the surface layer. Hypoxic water masses (< 2 mg L-1, or approximately 30% saturation) can form, therefore, under 'natural' conditions, and are more likely to occur in marine systems when the water residence time is extended, water exchange and ventilation are minimal, stratification occurs, and where carbon production and export to the bottom layer are relatively high. Hypoxia has occurred through geological time and naturally occurs in oxygen minimum zones, deep basins, eastern boundary upwelling systems, and fjords. Hypoxia development and continuation in many areas of the world's coastal ocean is accelerated by human activities, especially where nutrient loading increased in the Anthropocene. This higher loading set in motion a cascading set of events related to eutrophication. The formation of hypoxic areas has been exacerbated by any combination of interactions that increase primary production and accumulation of organic carbon leading to increased respiratory demand for oxygen below a seasonal or permanent pycnocline. Nutrient loading is likely to increase further as population growth and resource intensification rises, especially with increased dependency on crops using fertilizers, burning of fossil fuels, urbanization, and waste water generation. It is likely that the occurrence and persistence of hypoxia will be even more widespread and have more impacts than presently observed. Global climate change will further complicate the causative factors in both natural and human-caused hypoxia. The likelihood of strengthened stratification alone, from increased surface water temperature as the global climate warms, is sufficient to worsen hypoxia where it currently exists and facilitate its formation in additional waters. Increased precipitation that increases freshwater discharge and flux of nutrients will result in increased primary production in the receiving waters up to a point. The interplay of increased nutrients and stratification where they occur will aggravate and accelerate hypoxia. Changes in wind fields may expand oxygen minimum zones onto more continental shelf areas. On the other hand, not all regions will experience increased precipitation, some oceanic water temperatures may decrease as currents shift, and frequency and severity of tropical storms may increase and temporarily disrupt hypoxia more often. The consequences of global warming and climate change are effectively uncontrollable at least in the near term. On the other hand, the consequences of eutrophication-induced hypoxia can be reversed if long-term, broad-scale, and persistent efforts to reduce substantial nutrient loads are developed and implemented. In the face of globally expanding hypoxia, there is a need for water and resource managers to act now to reduce nutrient loads to maintain, at least, the current status.
Oceanic Heterotrophic Bacterial Nutrition By Semilabile Dom As Revealed By Data Assimilative Modeling, Yw Luo, M. A.M. Friedrichs, Sc Doney, Mj Church, Hw Ducklow
Oceanic Heterotrophic Bacterial Nutrition By Semilabile Dom As Revealed By Data Assimilative Modeling, Yw Luo, M. A.M. Friedrichs, Sc Doney, Mj Church, Hw Ducklow
VIMS Articles
Previous studies have focused on the role of labile dissolved organic matter (DOM) (defined as turnover time of similar to 1 d) in supporting heterotrophic bacterial production, but have mostly neglected semilabile DOM (defined as turnover time of similar to 100 to 1000 d) as a potential substrate for heterotrophic bacterial growth. To test the hypothesis that semilabile DOM supports substantial amounts of heterotrophic bacterial production in the open ocean, we constructed a 1-dimensional epipelagic ecosystem model and applied it to 3 open ocean sites: the Arabian Sea, Equatorial Pacific and Station ALOHA in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. The …
Increased Ocean Carbon Export In The Sargasso Sea Linked To Climate Variability Is Countered By Its Enhanced Mesopelagic Attenuation, M. W. Lomas, Deborah K. Steinberg, T. Dickey, C.A. Carlson, N.B. Nelson, R.H. Condon, N.R. Bates
Increased Ocean Carbon Export In The Sargasso Sea Linked To Climate Variability Is Countered By Its Enhanced Mesopelagic Attenuation, M. W. Lomas, Deborah K. Steinberg, T. Dickey, C.A. Carlson, N.B. Nelson, R.H. Condon, N.R. Bates
VIMS Articles
Photosynthetic CO(2) uptake by oceanic phytoplankton and subsequent export of particulate organic carbon (POC) to the ocean interior comprises a globally significant biological carbon pump, controlled in part by the composition of the planktonic community. The strength and efficiency of this pump depends upon the balance of particle production in the euphotic zone and remineralization of those particles in the mesopelagic (defined here as depths between 150 and 300 m), but how these processes respond to climate-driven changes in the physical environment is not completely understood. In the Sargasso Sea, from similar to 1996-2007, we have observed a decade-long > 50% …
Evidence For Greater Oxygen Decline Rates In The Coastal Ocean Than In The Open Ocean, D. Gilbert, N. N. Rabalais, R. J. Diaz, J. Zhang
Evidence For Greater Oxygen Decline Rates In The Coastal Ocean Than In The Open Ocean, D. Gilbert, N. N. Rabalais, R. J. Diaz, J. Zhang
VIMS Articles
In the global ocean, the number of reported hypoxic sites (oxygen < 30% saturation) is on the rise both near the coast and in the open ocean. But unfortunately, most of the papers on hypoxia only present oxygen data from one or two years, so that we often lack a long-term perspective on whether oxygen levels at these locations are decreasing, steady or increasing. Consequently, we cannot rule out the possibility that many of the newly reported hypoxic areas were hypoxic in the past, and that the increasing number of hypoxic areas partly reflects increased research and monitoring efforts. Here we address this shortcoming by computing oxygen concentration trends in the global ocean from published time series and from time series that we calculated using a global oxygen database. Our calculations reveal that median oxygen decline rates are more severe in a 30 km band near the coast than in the open ocean (> 100 km from the coast). Percentages of oxygen time series with negative oxygen trends are also greater in the coastal ocean than in the open ocean. Finally, a significant difference between median published oxygen trends and median trends calculated from raw oxygen data suggests the existence of a publication bias in favor of negative trends in the open ocean.
Fate Of Macroalgae In Benthic Systems: Carbon And Nitrogen Cycling Within The Microbial Community, Amber K. Hardison, Elizabeth A. Canuel, Iris C. Anderson, Bart Veuger
Fate Of Macroalgae In Benthic Systems: Carbon And Nitrogen Cycling Within The Microbial Community, Amber K. Hardison, Elizabeth A. Canuel, Iris C. Anderson, Bart Veuger
VIMS Articles
High nutrient loading to coastal bays is often accompanied by the presence of bloom-forming macroalgae, which take up and sequester large amounts of C and N while growing. This pool is temporary, however, as nuisance macroalgae exhibit a bloom and die-off cycle, influencing the biogeochemical functioning of these systems in unknown ways. The objective of this study was to trace the C and N from senescing macroalgae into relevant sediment pools. A macroalgal die-off event was simulated by the addition of freeze-dried macroalgae (Gracilaria spp.), pre-labeled with stable isotopes (C-13 and N-15), to sediment mesocosms. The isotopes were traced into …
Autotrophic Picoplankton In Mesozooplankton Guts: Evidence Of Aggregate Feeding In The Mesopelagic Zone And Export Of Small Phytoplankton, S. E. Wilson, D. K. Steinberg
Autotrophic Picoplankton In Mesozooplankton Guts: Evidence Of Aggregate Feeding In The Mesopelagic Zone And Export Of Small Phytoplankton, S. E. Wilson, D. K. Steinberg
VIMS Articles
Zooplankton play a key role in affecting the efficiency by which organic matter is exported to depth. Mesozooplankton consumption of detrital aggregates has been hypothesized as a mechanism for enhancing the export of picoplankton from surface layers. We analyzed the gut contents of mesopelagic copepods and ostracods using light and epifluorescence microscopy to determine if cyanobacteria and eukaryotic phytoplankton too small to be ingested individually were present. Hind-guts were dissected from multiple species collected in discrete depth intervals between 0 and 1000 m during the day and night, at contrasting sites in the subtropical (Hawaii Ocean Time-series site ALOHA) and …
Buoyancy Regulation In Phaeocystis Globosa Scherffel Colonies, Xiaodong Wang, Kam W. Tang
Buoyancy Regulation In Phaeocystis Globosa Scherffel Colonies, Xiaodong Wang, Kam W. Tang
VIMS Articles
Buoyancy of Phaeocystis globosa Scherffel (Prymnesiophyceae) colonies was investigated by measuring the vertical distribution of colonies in quiescent water where convection had been removed. Over 60% of the colonies exhibited negative buoyancy regardless of light condition or growth phase. Positively and neutrally buoyant colonies lost their buoyancy in the dark, but regained buoyancy upon return to the light. Colonies with closer cell packing; i.e., more cells per unit colonial surface area, had greater capability to remain buoyant. Our results suggest that colony buoyancy was not uniform within a P. globosa population, and that biological regulation of colony buoyancy required light …