"Phytoplankton growth" refers to the process of tiny, plant-like organisms known as phytoplankton multiplying and increasing in number. These organisms live in bodies of water like oceans, lakes, and rivers, and they play a crucial role in the food chain and the production of oxygen for marine life. When their growth is healthy, it can have positive impacts on the ecosystem.
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Analyses of the samples verified that organic compounds in the sea - surface microlayer reflected the temporal development
of phytoplankton growth in the water column.
«What is important about this study is that while yes, whales eat fish (including baleen whales), whales enhance the production of fish by providing through excretion the nutrients essential
for phytoplankton growth at the base of the food web,» said Jim Ruzicka from the Hatfield Marine Science Center at the University of Oregon.
There are three key factors driving
increased phytoplankton growth around Antarctica, according to Moore: the long - term warming trend in the oceans, the changes in winds brought on by global climate warming and, most significantly, the near elimination of sea ice along the coast of Antarctica.
The objective of our research is to evaluate the effects of global climate change processes (changing dust deposition, ocean acidification and sea - surface warming)
on phytoplankton growth, biological N2 fixation, biogeochemical cycles, and the controlling role of Fe within these impacts.
Unlike most regions of the global ocean which do not contain sufficient nitrogen or phosphorus for
sustained phytoplankton growth, diatoms in the remote waters of McMurdo Sound were starving from lack of iron and deficiency of vitamin B12.
These processes included dust deposition, and ocean acidification and warming, which were shown to have a significant impact on
oceanic phytoplankton growth, cell size and primary productivity, biological N2 fixation, phytoplankton distribution and community composition.
Studies suggest that the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) is more likely to be positive, meaning stronger winds will be more common, likely
disrupting phytoplankton growth, and tropical storms could send precipitation across the Southern Ocean that can put penguin eggs and chicks at risk.
However it has been shown that oceanic iron deficiency limits
phytoplankton growth despite the availability of large concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
That is, they maxed
out phytoplankton growth until something else became the limiting factor — in this case, phosphates.
Here we use a set of integrative approaches that combine metatranscriptomes, biochemical data, cellular physiology and
emergent phytoplankton growth strategies in a global ecosystems model, to show that temperature significantly affects eukaryotic phytoplankton metabolism with consequences for biogeochemical cycling under global warming.
Known as the «sulfur pearl of Namibia,» this anaerobic species digests organic matter under low - oxygen (or no - oxygen) conditions that are caused by high rates
of phytoplankton growth in the Benguela upwelling zone, and the subsequent decay of large masses of dead phytoplankton that have fallen to the seafloor.
New research from UCI oceanographers projects that by the year 2300, the elimination of sea ice around Antarctica will cause
increased phytoplankton growth, starving other ocean regions of the nutrients needed to feed the lowest level of aquatic food webs.
However, you omitted the most important fact about the world's oceans: the diminishment of the oceans» primary productivity, which corresponds to the amount of
phytoplankton growth.
«These conditions will cause changes in
phytoplankton growth and ocean circulation around Antarctica, with the net effect of transferring nutrients from the upper ocean to the deep ocean,» said lead author J. Keith Moore, UCI professor of Earth system science.
«Because these plants are photosynthetic, it's not surprising to find that as the amount of sea ice cover declined, the amount of [photosynthesis] increased,» says biological oceanographer Kevin Arrigo of Stanford University's School of Earth Sciences, who led an effort to use the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) devices on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites to determine changes in
phytoplankton growth.
All have sought to test whether stimulating
phytoplankton growth can increase the amount of carbon dioxide that the organisms pull out of the atmosphere and deposit in the deep ocean when they die.
It has been shown that iron (Fe) can be the limiting nutrient for
phytoplankton growth, in particular, in the HNLC (High Nutrient Low Chlorophyll) regions.
The experiments uniformly find that
phytoplankton growth is stimulated by iron.
The concentrations of chlorophyll (proxy for phytoplankton biomass in the ocean) and nutrient (for
phytoplankton growth) in the Gulf Stream region are found significantly correlated with the AMOC strength and anticorrelated with the Gulf Stream path.
Iron is a vital micronutrient for
phytoplankton growth and photosynthesis that has historically been delivered to the pelagic sea by dust storms from arid lands.
All have sought to test whether stimulating
phytoplankton growth can increase the amount of carbon dioxide that the organisms pull out of the atmosphere and deposit in the deep ocean when they die.
In addition, rising temperatures and / or increasing CO2 levels directly cause more abundant plant and
phytoplankton growth, thus using up more CO2.
The new findings could help improve understanding of
phytoplankton growth in the Southern Ocean as well as nitrogen transformations in other marine environments.
While controlled iron fertilization experiments have shown an increase in
phytoplankton growth, and a temporary increase in drawdown of atmospheric CO2, it is uncertain whether this would increase carbon transfer into the deep ocean over the longer - term.
A boost of iron would stimulate
phytoplankton growth, which means more carbon dioxide could accordingly be absorbed from the atmosphere.