Patterns of (micro)nutrient limitation across the South Pacific Ocean

Abstract Nutrient limitation regulates phytoplankton growth throughout much of the global ocean and its assessment is important for our understanding of future changes in ocean productivity. The South Pacific Ocean represents a vast region where limiting nutrients have so far been investigated with only a handful of experiments. Here we report the results of eleven nutrient addition bioassay experiments conducted across the South Pacific Ocean at ca. 30°S as part of the GEOTRACES GP21 expedition. Nitrogen addition alone stimulated chlorophyll-a accumulation at all sites, whilst increases were larger following supplementary addition of iron in the eastern and central basin, and phosphate in the western basin. Enhanced iron stress following nitrogen addition in the eastern and central basin further pointed towards ambient iron concentrations approaching co-limiting levels. The overall east-to-west shift in serial limiting nutrients from iron to phosphate was attributed to a broadscale east-west increase in iron availability relative to nitrogen.

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Publication Details

Journal
Communications Earth & Environment
Published
2024-10-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01749-1
Citations
5
Primary Topic
Marine and coastal ecosystems
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
2.40

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article

Patterns of (micro)nutrient limitation across the South Pacific Ocean

Thomas J. Browning, Shuh‐Ji Kao, Xin Liu, Juliane K. Tammen et al.
5 citations
Communications Earth & Environment
Marine and coastal ecosystems
2.40
article

Patterns of (micro)nutrient limitation across the South Pacific Ocean

Thomas J. Browning, Shuh‐Ji Kao, Xin Liu, Juliane K. Tammen, Kathleen J. Gosnell, Eric P. Achterberg, Anja Engel, Te Liu, Zhongwei Yuan, Haoran Liu, Zuozhu Wen, Bangqin Huang
article en
5 citations

Abstract

Abstract Nutrient limitation regulates phytoplankton growth throughout much of the global ocean and its assessment is important for our understanding of future changes in ocean productivity. The South Pacific Ocean represents a vast region where limiting nutrients have so far been investigated with only a handful of experiments. Here we report the results of eleven nutrient addition bioassay experiments conducted across the South Pacific Ocean at ca. 30°S as part of the GEOTRACES GP21 expedition. Nitrogen addition alone stimulated chlorophyll-a accumulation at all sites, whilst increases were larger following supplementary addition of iron in the eastern and central basin, and phosphate in the western basin. Enhanced iron stress following nitrogen addition in the eastern and central basin further pointed towards ambient iron concentrations approaching co-limiting levels. The overall east-to-west shift in serial limiting nutrients from iron to phosphate was attributed to a broadscale east-west increase in iron availability relative to nitrogen.

Communications Earth & EnvironmentVol. 5(1)
Xiamen University (CN), Hainan University (CN), GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (DE)
European Commission, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
Life below water
Openalex Percentile: Top 12%
Marine and coastal ecosystems
2.40
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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