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12.742 - Marine Chemistry Fall 2004 Lecture 13 - Primary Production: Column Processes Prof. Scott Doney

Somewhat different organization from years past - start with surface and work • our way down the water column

Try to fold methods in as we go • Electronic notes still missing many of the figures - also somewhat different order. •

Primary Production – Formation and respiration of organic matter / respiration – Formation and dissolution of CaCO3, SiO3

Remineralization – Transport of dust, resuspended sediments, Dom Export particles

– Scavenging onto particles Sinking Export – Elemental stoichiometry

– Water column distributions

– Rates Figure 1. hv Phototrophy

– Categorize by source of energy, inorganic electron donor and carbon source. CO + H O C + O 2 2 org 2 Chemo litho autotrophy · Chemo organo heterotrophy · Respiration Photo litho autotrophy Q (Chemical Energy) ·

Figure 2.

1 N N Light absorbed by pigments. • M – mainly a N N – also accessory pigments (which absorb different wavelengths) including forms of chlorophyll (b, c1, c2) carotenoids, biliopro- teins

Figure 3.

– Chlorophyll has conjugated double bonds - non-localized π orbital electrons, can absorb solar radiation, bump up to higher electron state

– PAR - photosynthetic available radiation (350 700 nm) − – Convert light energy into electron energy 400 λ (nm) 700 – Light harvesting pigment- complexes Absorb in Blue and Red (leave Green) involved in electron transfer, funneling ex- cited electrons to reaction sites. Figure 4.

Two types of reactions • – Light reactions Photosystems I and II - /electron exchange ATP - adenosine triphosphate Photosystem I - reduction of NADP NADP H → 2 Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADP)

Photosystem II - liberation of O2 from water Interconnected photosystem II photosystem I (photosynthetic unit) → Light reactions (light into energy and reducing power),

+ + 2H2O +2NADP O2 +2NADP H +2H Delta G = +105.5kcal/mol −−→8 hν

Coupled with phosphorylation reaction,

4ADP +4P 4AT P i −→

2 – Dark reactions Calvin/Benson cycle - biochemistry (CO ) 2 → 2H+ + CO +2NADP H (CH O)+2NADP + 2 −→ 2 which requires 3AT P :

3AT P 3ADP +3P −→ i where (CH2O) is a generic carbohydrate. The net reaction is:

CO2 +2H2O (CH2O)+H2O + O2 −−→8 hν Respiration by (light and dark) • – Use stored organic matter to regenerate energy

CO2 + H2O ! CH2O + O2

– Forward reaction - Gross Primary Production (GPP) – Reverse reaction - respiration () – Net Primary Production (NPP) = GPP - autotroph respiration – Typically respiration small: 0.1 GPP, but can be higher in tropical oligotrophic 0.4 ≤ ∼ GPP

What limits/controls primary production? • – autotroph (grazing, excretion, mortality) – light – – (growth rates versus photosynthesis)

So where is most of the biomass (phytoplankton)? • – Photosynthetic Quotient O2 − CO2 ! " CO + H O CH O + O PQ 1 2 2 ! 2 2 ∼ requires 532 kJ. ∼ But PQ for is > 1 because of production of and (, DNA) Eg: fatty acid CH (CH ) COOH 3 − 2 10 − 17 C H O + 17O 12CO + 12H OPQ 1.42 12 24 2 2 ! 2 2 ∼ 12 ≈ – Alfred Redfield in the 1930s-1950s examined the elemental composition of marine phy- toplankton (now call “Redfield ratios”)

3 – Anderson proposed

C106H175O42N16P + 150O2 ! 106CO2 + 16HNO3 + H3PO4 + 78H2O

Main primary producers: • – by phylogeny (genomics, metabolics, and cellular form) - phylogenitvely rich/diverse taxonomy 2 104 (?) cyanobacteria (prokaryote), (green and red · algae), red (, dinoflagellates) – by size (important later for grazing, export, etc) - haptophytes (coccolithophorids), chrysophytes (Note: pico - 0.2 20 µm, nano - 2.0 20 µm, micro - 20 200 µm, meso − − − - 200 2000 µm, micro - > 2000 µm − – /geochemical function group - nitrogen fixers, calcifiers, silicon shells, etc

Spatial distribution based on field surveys and remote sensing

Light

I0

Euphotic Z Zone – Primary production in clearest open down to 125 ∼ m.

1% – Turbid coastal a few meters to 10s Disphotic of meters – Light absorption - depends upon water, suspended material, dis- solved organisms, biology, etc. Aphotic Zone

Figure 5.

k(λ)z Lights falls off with depth I(λ, z)=I0(λ)e− (For PAR, exponential is only an approxi- mation) k = k + k Chl + otherabsorbers, PAR 0.5 total irradiance w c ∼ Change spectral character of light (strip out all of the red, for example)

4 Photosynthesis - irradiance curves

Saturating

P = P max Different function forms - “models” eg. P Photoinhibition

αI/Pmax P = P 1 e− max − P = αI lim ea = 1 + a!+ (a2) " a 0 O → # $ αI P P 1 1 ⇒ → max − − P % % max && Linear I

Figure 6.

Light and mixing

Time

Summer Trigger spring bloom when have enough “average” light (when mixing depth Z shoals to the critical depth ZCR)

Winter

1 kZ R0 Ic 1 e− CR = = Depth kZCR − P0 I0 ' (

Figure 7.

5 at the compensation irradiance, Ic, Pc = Rc (autotroph production equals respiration) P i Photosynthesis

kZc Ic = I0e− P = αI, P0 = αI0

Z At critical depth, total integrated respi- Compensation Depth / Irradience ration = integrated production

I c Z c Harold Sverdrup first identified criti- cal depth ZCR defined as depth where depth integrated respiration = depth in- tegrated production. Respiration

ZCR kz R0ZCR = dz αI0e− Figure 8. )0

Nutrient limitation N •

V max

V uptake 1/2 V max N Vuptake = Vmax · N+kN

N

Figure 9.

Complications • – Many different possible limiting nutrients N, P, Si (), also, trace elements F e, Co, Zn, . . . + – Multiple forms of nutrients NH4 , NO3− most easily dominant form used in ocean – Dissolved organic matter as source* +, - of nutrien* +, -ts + – inhibition (eg. NH4 on nitrate) – Multiplicative i.e. Liebig’s law of minimum; nutrient-light co-inhibition

6 Temperature limitation T •

Optimal T

Specific Specific Growth Growth μ μ

T

Upper Bound

Figure 10.

Eppley curve [1972] for maximum autotroph specific growth ratesµ (1/day) 0.6 T (deg. C) µ(T )= d 1.066 alternative temperature curves defined with form similar to Arrehnius relationship

7 Time-Space variations • Time Nutrients

Fall Bloom

Z

Z Spring Mixed Bloom Layer

Seasonal (light, nutrients)

I o

Figure 11.

during spring, have increased light (solar, mixed layer depth) and higher nutrients (from deep winter mixing) Balance of light versus nutrient limitation depends upon location

Variations with depth •

Light

Deep clorophyll maximum (cell abun- dence and chl/cell, photoadaptation, photoacclimation)

Nutrients

Figure 12.

8 Globally

– Spatial maps of chlorophyll ( for biomass) – Primary determinant is nutrient supply – Regions of (equatorial divergence, coastal upwelling, subpolar gyres) – Regions of deep seasonal mixing (eg. North Atlantic spring bloom)

Stratified regions have relatively low biomass (subtropical gyres)

ML Chl NutrientNat.

NutrientNats

Chl

PP Time

Atlantic

Figure 13.

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