Iron Nutrition of Phytoplankton and Its Possible Importance in the Ecology of Ocean Regions with High Nutrient and Low Biomass

  • Morel F
  • Rueter J
  • Price N
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Abstract

IN SOME REGIONS of the oceans, namely the North and Equatorial Pacific and the Antarctic, the surface waters contain relatively high concen- trations of nutrients (e.g., P04 > 1 uM) yet only a low biomass (chlorophyll < 0.5 ug/L). On the basis of measurements of very low iron concen- trations (<0,1 nM) and observations of increased growth on Fe enrichments, J. Martin and co- workers have proposed that iron limits primary production in these waters (Martin, 1991, this is- sue). Other authors have proposed alternate hy- potheses chiefly on the basis of grazing (Miller et al., 1991, this issue) and light limitation (Mitchell et al., 1991). Here we examine the "iron hypoth- esis" in light of what we know about the iron physiology of marine phytoplankton and its re- lation to iron chemistry.

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Morel, F., Rueter, J., & Price, N. (1991). Iron Nutrition of Phytoplankton and Its Possible Importance in the Ecology of Ocean Regions with High Nutrient and Low Biomass. Oceanography, 4(2), 56–61. https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.1991.03

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