Nanoplankton: The dominant vector for carbon export across the Atlantic Southern Ocean in spring

Flynn, Raquel F.; Haraguchi, Lumi; McQuaid, Jeff; Burger, Jessica M.; Mutseka Lunga, Percy; Stirnimann, Luca; Samanta, Saumik; Roychoudhury, Alakendra N.; Fawcett, Sarah E.

doi:10.1126/sciadv.adi3059

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 104 publications

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“…However, prioritising large-scale marine protection and addressing ecological gaps can enhance resilience and promote natural carbon capture in particular through phytoplankton (Flynn et al, 2023).…”

Section: Body Conditions and Feedingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Editorial: Whales and climate

Meynecke,

Derville,

Richards

2023

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Editorial on the Research Topic Whales and climate BackgroundBaleen whales have exhibited alterations from their traditional migration, breeding, and feeding patterns in recent years (Ramp et al., 2015;Moore et al., 2019). Climate change is recognised as a key factor driving these shifts, leading to concerns about the recovery of whale populations. Whales face heightened vulnerability due to their extensive seasonal migrations, exposure to extreme climatic conditions from polar feeding grounds to tropical breeding grounds within a few months each year, low reproduction rates and long lifespans (Tyack, 1986;Corkeron and Connor, 1999). The future population recovery of all baleen whales is intricately tied to climate change and its impact on their feeding and breeding habitats (Thomas et al., 2016;Tulloch et al., 2019) (Figure 1).The objective of the Whales and Climate topic was to contribute research that enhances the understanding of the intricate relationship between baleen whales and climate change. Climate impacts on the marine environment are inherently complex, marked by uncertainty, time lags, non-linearities, and a multitude of pathways, obscuring cause-and-effect relationships. The topic provided a platform to help quantify the interactions between climate change and mysticeti. It illuminated how past, present, and future climate conditions influence various aspects of the whales' life cycle, including breeding, feeding, and migration, as well as their overall recovery from whaling. Additionally, the Whales and Climate topic aimed to assess the relative vulnerability of different whale populations and species to the effects of climate change. By defining impacts and potential relationships with climate conditions, we aspired to advance modeling approaches and promote the integration of future climate projections into research on whales and climate.The research of the 13 papers included in this Research Topic investigated body conditions, changes in migration timing, species distribution and abundance, relationships with environmental factors and the potential role of whales in carbon sequestration.

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Section: Body Conditions and Feedingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Editorial: Whales and climate

Meynecke,

Derville,

Richards

2023

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Consistent cell‐specific carbon fixation rates by small eukaryotic phytoplankton in contrasting nutrient‐limited conditions

Ong,

Gutiérrez‐Rodríguez,

Safi

et al. 2024

Limnology & Oceanography

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Small phytoplankton, consisting of pico and nano size fractions, are diverse in size and taxonomy. Yet, the differences in their productivity and taxonomic diversity are poorly described. Here, we measured the cell‐specific carbon fixation rates of picocyanobacteria Synechococcus, picoeukaryote, and nanoeukaryote populations, while unveiling their taxonomic composition in oligotrophic subtropical and high‐nutrient low‐chlorophyll subantarctic waters. We coupled 24 h in situ radiolabeled 14C incubations to flow cytometry sorting and DNA metabarcoding from the same incubated samples, offering a direct account of the community associated with the carbon fixation rates measured. In both water masses, nanoeukaryotes had the highest cell‐specific carbon fixation rate, followed by picoeukaryotes and Synechococcus (2.24 ± 29.99, 2.18 ± 2.08, and 0.78 ± 0.55 fgC cell−1 h−1, respectively). The cell‐specific carbon fixation rates and growth rates of Synechococcus were threefold higher in subtropical compared to subantarctic waters, while the rates of picoeukaryotes and nanoeukaryotes had no significant difference between the biogeochemically‐contrasting water masses. Sorted picoeukaryote populations were dominated by Mamiellophyceae, Pelagophyceae, Prymnesiophyceae, and Chrysophyceae, while nanoeukaryote populations were dominated by Dinophyceae and Prymnesiophyceae. Despite significant differences in their taxonomic composition, the sorted picoeukaryote populations in subantarctic waters and nanoeukaryote populations in subtropical and subantarctic waters were dominated by taxa reported in the literature as able to engage in phago‐mixotrophic strategies (Prymnesiophyceae, Chrysophyceae, and Dinophyceae), suggesting that such trophic strategy might be applied by discrete small photosynthetic eukaryote populations to alleviate macronutrient and iron stress.

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Vertical nitrate flux fuels new production over summertime Northeast U.S. Shelf

Zheng,

Zhang,

et al. 2024

Limnology & Oceanography

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In aquatic ecosystems, allochthonous nutrient transport to the euphotic zone is an important process that fuels new production. Here, we use high‐resolution physical and biogeochemical observations from five summers to estimate the mean vertical nitrate flux, and thus new production over the Northeast U.S. Shelf (NES). We find that the summertime nitrate field is primarily controlled by biological uptake and physical advection–diffusion processes, above and below the 1% light level depth, respectively. We estimate the vertical nitrate flux to be 8.2 ± 5.3 × 10−6 mmol N m−2 s−1 for the mid‐shelf and 12.6 ± 8.6 × 10−6 mmol N m−2 s−1 for the outer shelf. Furthermore, we show that the new production to total primary production ratio (i.e., the f‐ratio), consistently ranges between 10% and 15% under summer conditions on the NES. Two independent approaches—nitrate flux‐based new production and O2/Ar‐based net community production—corroborate the robustness of the f‐ratio estimation. Since ~ 85% of the total primary production is fueled by recycled nutrients over sufficiently broad spatial and temporal scales, less than 15% of the organic matter produced in summer is available for export from the NES euphotic zone. Our direct quantification of new production not only provides more precise details about key processes for NES food webs and ecosystem function, but also demonstrates the potential of this approach to be applied to other similar datasets to understand nutrient and carbon cycling in the global ocean.

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Nanoplankton: The dominant vector for carbon export across the Atlantic Southern Ocean in spring

Cited by 6 publications

References 104 publications

Editorial: Whales and climate

Editorial: Whales and climate

Consistent cell‐specific carbon fixation rates by small eukaryotic phytoplankton in contrasting nutrient‐limited conditions

Vertical nitrate flux fuels new production over summertime Northeast U.S. Shelf

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