B52A:
Beyond Redfield: Elemental Ratios as Tracers and Drivers of Biodiversity and Biogeochemical Function in a Changing Ocean I


Session ID#: 11535

Session Description:
Microbial life in the ocean contains immense biodiversity, yet its collective activity yields tightly linked, global cycles of key nutrients. Almost 80 years ago, A.C. Redfield discovered that relatively invariant elemental ratios found in marine organisms are intimately entwined with the co-variation of these elements in the ocean.  However, recent studies have demonstrated the potential for both large-scale variation in nutrient uptake ratios as well as the influence of nutrient ratios on plankton biodiversity and ocean biogeochemical functioning.  These findings have broad implications for the ocean’s ‘biological pump’ that links nutrient and carbon cycling and its role in controlling atmospheric CO2 and thereby Earth’s climate.

 

This session will bring together observationalists, experimentalists, theoreticians, and modelers from a range of disciplines to understand (1) how biogeochemical stoichiometry can be used to understand the coupling of major elemental cycles, (2) the mechanisms leading to different ratios of nutrients in ocean water or plankton, or (3) the influence of elemental ratios on plankton physiology, biodiversity, and distribution. We invite studies that utilize novel field, culture, theory, and/or modeling approaches to address these questions with the goal of achieving a new synthesis regarding biogeochemical stoichiometry in the ocean and its application to key questions.

Primary Chair:  Mark A Altabet, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, New Bedford, MA, United States
Chairs:  Mark A Altabet, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, New Bedford, MA, United States, James J Elser, Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences, Tempe, AZ, United States and Curtis A Deutsch, University of Washington Seattle Campus, School of Oceanography, Seattle, WA, United States
Moderators:  Adam Martiny, University of California, Irvine, Earth System Science, Irvine, CA, United States and James J Elser, Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences, Tempe, AZ, United States
Student Paper Review Liaison:  James J Elser, Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences, Tempe, AZ, United States
Index Terms:

1615 Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling [GLOBAL CHANGE]
1635 Oceans [GLOBAL CHANGE]
4845 Nutrients and nutrient cycling [OCEANOGRAPHY: BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL]
4855 Phytoplankton [OCEANOGRAPHY: BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL]
Co-Sponsor(s):
  • CT - Chemical Tracers, DOM and Trace Metals
  • ME - Marine Ecosystems
  • MM - Microbiology and Molecular Biology
  • PP - Phytoplankton and Primary Production

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

B52A-01
Biogeochemical Stoichiometry of the Sargasso Sea (91073)
Michael W Lomas1, Arvind Singh2, Steven Baer1, Ulf Riebesell3 and Adam Martiny4, (1)Bigelow Lab for Ocean Sciences, East Boothbay, ME, United States, (2)GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel, Kiel, Germany, (3)GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany, (4)University of California, Irvine, Earth System Science, Irvine, CA, United States
B52A-03
Mechanisms for Variation of Cellular P Stoichiometry: Diverse Cellular Phosphorus Allocation Strategies Across Microbial Groups from the Sargasso Sea (92627)
Kim Popendorf and Solange Duhamel, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Biology & Paleo Environment, Palisades, NY, United States
B52A-04
Phylogenetic differences in the macromolecular composition of microalgae (91304)
Zoe Finkel1, Michael J Follows2, Justin David Liefer3, Chris M Brown3, Ina Benner4 and Andrew J Irwin5, (1)Environmental Science Program, NB, Canada, (2)Massachusetts Inst Tech, Cambridge, MA, United States, (3)Mount Allison University, Geography and Environment, SACKVILLE, NB, Canada, (4)Mount Allison University, Geography and Environment, Sackville, NB, Canada, (5)Mount Allison University, Sackville, NB, Canada
B52A-05
Variability in cellular elemental stoichiometry among several major lineages of marine eukaryotic phytoplankton (88245)
Nathan S Garcia1, Michael W Lomas2 and Adam Martiny1, (1)University of California, Irvine, Earth System Science, Irvine, CA, United States, (2)Bigelow Lab for Ocean Sciences, East Boothbay, ME, United States
B52A-06
Modeling the Impacts of Phytoplankton Plasticity in Buffering Anthropogenic CO2 Increase (89069)
Tatsuro Tanioka and Katsumi Matsumoto, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States
B52A-07
Nutrient-Poor, Slowly Sinking Organic Matter in the Sargasso Sea – A Hypothesis and Supporting Evidence (91087)
Sarah E Fawcett1,2, Kenneth S Johnson3, Stephen Riser4, Nicolas Van Oostende2 and Daniel Mikhail Sigman2, (1)University of Cape Town, Department of Oceanography, Rondebosch, South Africa, (2)Princeton University, Department of Geosciences, Princeton, NJ, United States, (3)Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA, United States, (4)University of Washington, School of Oceanography, Seattle, WA, United States
B52A-08
Non-Redfield Stoichiometry and the Carbon Cycle. (93207)
George Hagstrom, Princeton University, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton, NJ, United States, Allison R Moreno, University of California at Irvine, Ecosystems and Earth Sciences, Irvine, CA, United States and Adam Martiny, University of California, Irvine, Earth System Science, Irvine, CA, United States
See more of: Biogeochemistry and Nutrients