Articles | Volume 21, issue 19
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-4239-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-4239-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
30 Sep 2024
Research article |
| 30 Sep 2024
| 30 Sep 2024
Elemental stoichiometry of particulate organic matter across the Atlantic Ocean
Adam J. Fagan
Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
Tatsuro Tanioka
Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
Alyse A. Larkin
Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
Jenna A. Lee
Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
Nathan S. Garcia
Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
Related authors
Allison R. Moreno, Adam J. Fagan, and Adam C. Martiny
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2357, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2357, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Biogeosciences (BG).
Short summary
Short summary
Phytoplankton stimulate oxygen production in the surface ocean whereas bacteria will utilize that oxygen. We measure the first coastal r-O2:C - oxygen needed to oxidize carbon- over a 5-yr period in Southern California to determine the controlling factors in this highly dynamic region. We found that seasonality and blooming conditions has a strong impact on this ratio. We also found that a major local oil spill affected r-O2:C, demonstrating that coastal waters are impacted by climate.
Jenna A. Lee, Joseph H. Vineis, Mathieu A. Poupon, Laure Resplandy, and Bess B. Ward
Biogeosciences, 22, 4743–4761, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-4743-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-4743-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Concurrent sampling of environmental parameters, productivity rates, photopigments, and DNA was used to analyze 24 L estuarine diatom bloom microcosms. Biogeochemical data and an ecological model indicated that the bloom was terminated by grazing. Comparisons to previous studies revealed (1) additional community and diversity complexity using 18S amplicon vs. traditional pigment–based analyses and (2) a potential global productivity–diversity relationship using 18S and carbon transport rates.
Allison R. Moreno, Adam J. Fagan, and Adam C. Martiny
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2357, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2357, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Biogeosciences (BG).
Short summary
Short summary
Phytoplankton stimulate oxygen production in the surface ocean whereas bacteria will utilize that oxygen. We measure the first coastal r-O2:C - oxygen needed to oxidize carbon- over a 5-yr period in Southern California to determine the controlling factors in this highly dynamic region. We found that seasonality and blooming conditions has a strong impact on this ratio. We also found that a major local oil spill affected r-O2:C, demonstrating that coastal waters are impacted by climate.
Cited articles
Babiker, I. S., Mohamed, M. A. A., Komaki, K., Ohta, K., and Kato, K.: Temporal Variations in the Dissolved Nutrient Stocks in the Surface Water of the Western North Atlantic Ocean, J. Oceanogr., 60, 553–562, https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOCE.0000038348.66907.db, 2004.
British Oceanographic Data Centre: Hydrographic Cruise: 74JC20180923, CLIVAR and Carbon Hydrographic Data Office (CCHDO) [data set], https://doi.org/10.7942/C2D08M, 2019.
British Oceanographic Data Centre: Hydrographic Cruise: 33R020200321, CLIVAR and Carbon Hydrographic Data Office (CCHDO) [data set], https://doi.org/10.7942/C2894Z, 2020.
Browning, T. J. and Moore, C. M.: Global analysis of ocean phytoplankton nutrient limitation reveals high prevalence of co-limitation, Nat. Commun., 14, 5014, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40774-0, 2023.
Capone, D. G.: An iron curtain in the Atlantic Ocean forms a biogeochemical divide, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 111, 1231–1232, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1322568111, 2014.
Cavender-Bares, K. K., Karl, D. M., and Chisholm, S. W.: Nutrient gradients in the western North Atlantic Ocean: Relationship to microbial community structure and comparison to patterns in the Pacific Ocean, Deep-Sea Res. Pt. I, 48, 2373–2395, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-0637(01)00027-9, 2001.
Cermeño, P., Dutkiewicz, S., Harris, R. P., Follows, M., Schofield, O., and Falkowski, P. G.: The role of nutricline depth in regulating the ocean carbon cycle, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 105, 20344–20349, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0811302106, 2008.
Clayton, S., Alexander, H., Graff, J. R., Poulton, N. J., Thompson, L. R., Benway, H., Boss, E., and Martiny, A.: Bio-GO-SHIP: The Time Is Right to Establish Global Repeat Sections of Ocean Biology, Front. Mar. Sci., 8, 67443, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.767443, 2022.
Cotner, J., Ammerman, J., Peele, E., and Bentzen, E.: Phosphorus-limited bacterioplankton growth in the Sargasso Sea, Aquat. Microb. Ecol., 13, 141–149, https://doi.org/10.3354/ame013141, 1997.
Ducklow, H. and Dickson, A.: Shipboard sampling procedures, JGOFS, 1–210, 1994.
Galbraith, E. D. and Martiny, A. C.: A simple nutrient-dependence mechanism for predicting the stoichiometry of marine ecosystems, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 112, 8199–8204, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1423917112, 2015.
Garcia, C. A., Baer, S. E., Garcia, N. S., Rauschenberg, S., Twining, B. S., Lomas, M. W., and Martiny, A. C.: Nutrient supply controls particulate elemental concentrations and ratios in the low latitude eastern Indian Ocean, Nat. Commun., 9, 4868, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06892-w, 2018.
Garcia, H. E., Boyer, T. P., Baranova, O. K., Locarnini, R. A., Mishonov, A. V., Grodsky, A., Paver, C. R., Weathers, K. W., Smolyar, I. V., Reagan, J. R., Seidov, D., and Zweng, M. M.: WOA 2018, National Centers for Environmental Information [data set], https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/oceans/woa/WOA 18/DATA/ (last access: 3 September 2020), 2019.
Garcia, C. A., Hagstrom, G. I., Larkin, A. A., Ustick, L. J., Levin, S. A., Lomas, M. W., and Martiny, A. C.: Linking regional shifts in microbial genome adaptation with surface ocean biogeochemistry, Philos. T. R. Soc. B, 375, 20190254, https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0254, 2020.
Isles, P. D. F.: The misuse of ratios in ecological stoichiometry, Ecology, 101, e03153, https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3153, 2020.
Kelly, K. A., Small, R. J., Samelson, R. M., Qiu, B., Joyce, T. M., Kwon, Y. O., and Cronin, M. F.: Western boundary currents and frontal air-sea interaction: Gulf stream and Kuroshio Extension, J. Clim., 23, 5644–5667, https://doi.org/10.1175/2010JCLI3346.1, 2010.
Kremling, K. and Streu, P.: Saharan dust influenced trace element fluxes in deep North Atlantic subtropical waters, Deep-Sea Res. Pt. I, 40, 1155–1168, https://doi.org/10.1016/0967-0637(93)90131-L, 1993.
Krishnamurthy, A., Moore, J. K., Mahowald, N., Luo, C., and Zender, C. S.: Impacts of atmospheric nutrient inputs on marine biogeochemistry, J. Geophys. Res., 115, G01006, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JG001115, 2010.
Kwon, E. Y., Sreeush, M. G., Timmermann, A., Karl, D. M., Church, M. J., Lee, S.-S., and Yamaguchi, R.: Nutrient uptake plasticity in phytoplankton sustains future ocean net primary production, Sci. Adv., 8, eadd2475, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.add2475, 2022.
Larkin, A., Lee, J. A., and Martiny, A.: Surface ocean particulate organic matter (POC, PON, and POP) from underway-collected samples along a north-south transect in the Atlantic Ocean on cruise AMT28/JR18001, British Oceanographic Data Centre, National Oceanography Centre [data set], NERC, UK, https://doi.org/10.5285/b5900384-89f0-3a38-e053-6c86abc0409d, 2020.
Lee, J. A., Garcia, C. A., Larkin, A. A., Carter, B. R., and Martiny, A. C.: Linking a Latitudinal Gradient in Ocean Hydrography and Elemental Stoichiometry in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 35, e2020GB006622, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GB006622, 2021.
Lomas, M. W., Burke, A. L., Lomas, D. A., Bell, D. W., Shen, C., Dyhrman, S. T., and Ammerman, J. W.: Sargasso Sea phosphorus biogeochemistry: An important role for dissolved organic phosphorus (DOP), Biogeosciences, 7, 695–710, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-7-695-2010, 2010.
Lomas, M. W., Bates, N. R., Johnson, R. J., Steinberg, D. K., and Tanioka, T.: Adaptive carbon export response to warming in the Sargasso Sea, Nat. Commun., 13, 1211, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28842-3, 2022.
Löscher, C. R., Mohr, W., Bange, H. W., and Canfield, D. E.: No nitrogen fixation in the Bay of Bengal?, Biogeosciences, 17, 851–864, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-851-2020, 2020.
Mahowald, N. M., Baker, A. R., Bergametti, G., Brooks, N., Duce, R. A., Jickells, T. D., Kubilay, N., Prospero, J. M., and Tegen, I.: Atmospheric global dust cycle and iron inputs to the ocean, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 19, GB4025, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GB002402, 2005.
Marañón, E., Holligan, P. M., Varela, M., Mouriño, B., and Bale, A. J.: Basin-scale variability of phytoplankton biomass, production and growth in the Atlantic Ocean, Deep-Sea Res. Pt. I, 47, 825–857, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-0637(99)00087-4, 2000.
Martiny, A. C., Vrugt, J. A., Primeau, F. W., and Lomas, M. W.: Regional variation in the particulate organic carbon to nitrogen ratio in the surface ocean, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 27, 723–731, https://doi.org/10.1002/gbc.20061, 2013a.
Martiny, A. C., Pham, C. T. A., Primeau, F. W., Vrugt, J. A., Moore, J. K., Levin, S. A., and Lomas, M. W.: Strong latitudinal patterns in the elemental ratios of marine plankton and organic matter, Nat. Geosci., 6, 279–283, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1757, 2013b.
Martiny, A. C., Vrugt, J. A., and Lomas, M. W.: Concentrations and ratios of particulate organic carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus in the global ocean, Sci. Data, 1, 140048, https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2014.48, 2014.
Martiny, A. C., Lomas, M. W., Fu, W., Boyd, P. W., Chen, Y. L., Cutter, G. A., Ellwood, M. J., Furuya, K., Hashihama, F., Kanda, J., Karl, D. M., Kodama, T., Li, Q. P., Ma, J., Moutin, T., Woodward, E. M. S., and Moore, J. K.: Biogeochemical controls of surface ocean phosphate, Sci. Adv., 5, eaax0341, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax0341, 2019.
Martiny, A., Garcia, N. S., Tanioka, T., and Fagan, A. J.: POM concentrations for carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus from GO-SHIP Line C13.5/A13.5 in 2020, Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO) [data set], https://doi.org/10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.868908.1, 2020.
Mather, R. L., Reynolds, S. E., Wolff, G. A., Williams, R. G., Torres-Valdes, S., Woodward, E. M. S., Landolfi, A., Pan, X., Sanders, R., and Achterberg, E. P.: Phosphorus cycling in the North and South Atlantic Ocean subtropical gyres, Nat. Geosci., 1, 439–443, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo232, 2008.
Michaels, A. F. and Knap, A. H.: Overview of the U.S. JGOFS Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study and the Hydrostation S program, Deep-Sea Res. Pt. II, 43, 157–198, https://doi.org/10.1016/0967-0645(96)00004-5, 1996.
Michaels, A. F., Knap, A. H., Dow, R. L., Gundersen, K., Johnson, R. J., Sorensen, J., Close, A., Knauer, G. A., Lohrenz, S. E., Asper, V. A., Tuel, M., and Bidigare, R.: Seasonal patterns of ocean biogeochemistry at the U.S. JGOFS Bermuda Atlantic time-series study site, Deep-Sea Res. Pt. I, 41, 1013–1038, https://doi.org/10.1016/0967-0637(94)90016-7, 1994.
Mills, M. M., Ridame, C., Davey, M., La Roche, J., and Geider, R. J.: Iron and phosphorus co-limit nitrogen fixation in the eastern tropical North Atlantic, Nature, 429, 292–294, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02550, 2004.
Moreno, A. R., Larkin, A. A., Lee, J. A., Gerace, S. D., Tarran, G. A., and Martiny, A. C.: Regulation of the Respiration Quotient Across Ocean Basins, AGU Adv., 3, e2022AV000679, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022AV000679, 2022.
Neuer, S., Torres-Padrón, M. E., Gelado-Caballero, M. D., Rueda, M. J., Hernández-Brito, J., Davenport, R., and Wefer, G.: Dust deposition pulses to the eastern subtropical North Atlantic gyre: Does ocean's biogeochemistry respond?, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 18, GB4020, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GB002228, 2004.
R Core Team: R: A Language Environment for Statistical Computing, R Foundation for Statistical Computing [code], https://www.R-project.org/ (last access: 25 January 2022), 2019.
Schlitzer, R.: Ocean Data View, Ocean Data View [code], https://odv.awi.de (last access: 8 March 2021), 2019.
Schlosser, C., Klar, J. K., Wake, B. D., Snow, J. T., Honey, D. J., Woodward, E. M. S., Lohan, M. C., Achterberg, E. P., and Mark Moore, C.: Seasonal ITCZ migration dynamically controls the location of the (sub)tropical Atlantic biogeochemical divide, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 111, 1438–1442, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1318670111, 2014.
Singh, A., Baer, S. E., Riebesell, U., Martiny, A. C., and Lomas, M. W.:
Steinberg, D. K., Carlson, C. A., Bates, N. R., Johnson, R. J., Michaels, A. F., and Knap, A. H.: Overview of the US JGOFS Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS): a decade-scale look at ocean biology and biogeochemistry, Deep-Sea Res. Pt. II, 48, 1405–1447, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-0645(00)00148-X, 2001.
Swift, J.: CTD data from Cruise 74JC20180923 [data set], https://doi.org/10.7942/C2D08M, 2019.
Tanioka, T. and Matsumoto, K.: Buffering of Ocean Export Production by Flexible Elemental Stoichiometry of Particulate Organic Matter, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 31, 1528–1542, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GB005670, 2017.
Tanioka, T. and Matsumoto, K.: A meta-analysis on environmental drivers of marine phytoplankton, Biogeosciences, 17, 2939–2954, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-2939-2020, 2020.
Tanioka, T., Garcia, C. A., Larkin, A. A., Garcia, N. S., Fagan, A. J., and Martiny, A. C.: Global patterns and predictors of
Ussher, S. J., Achterberg, E. P., Powell, C., Baker, A. R., Jickells, T. D., Torres, R., and Worsfold, P. J.: Impact of atmospheric deposition on the contrasting iron biogeochemistry of the North and South Atlantic Ocean, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 27, 1096–1107, https://doi.org/10.1002/gbc.20056, 2013.
Ustick, L. J., Larkin, A. A., Garcia, C. A., Garcia, N. S., Brock, M. L., Lee, J. A., Wiseman, N. A., Moore, J. K., and Martiny, A. C.: Metagenomic analysis reveals global-scale patterns of ocean nutrient limitation, Science, 372, 287–291, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abe6301, 2021.
Utermöhl, H.: Zur Vervollkommnung der quantitativen Phytoplankton-Methodik, Int. Ver. The., 9, 1–38, https://doi.org/10.1080/05384680.1958.11904091, 1958.
Wang, W.-L., Moore, J. K., Martiny, A. C., and Primeau, F. W.: Convergent estimates of marine nitrogen fixation, Nature, 566, 205–211, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-0911-2, 2019.
Weber, T. S. and Deutsch, C.: Ocean nutrient ratios governed by plankton biogeography, Nature, 467, 550–554, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09403, 2010.
Wood, S. N.: Generalized Additive Models, Chapman and Hall/CRC [code], https://doi.org/10.1201/9781315370279, 2017.
Yvon-Durocher, G., Dossena, M., Trimmer, M., Woodward, G., and Allen, A. P.: Temperature and the biogeography of algal stoichiometry, Global Ecol. Biogeogr., 24, 562–570, https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12280, 2015.
Zwirglmaier, K., Heywood, J. L., Chamberlain, K., Woodward, E. M. S., Zubkov, M. V., and Scanlan, D. J.: Basin-scale distribution patterns of picocyanobacterial lineages in the Atlantic Ocean, Environ. Microbiol., 9, 1278–1290, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2007.01246.x, 2007.
Short summary
Climate change is anticipated to influence the biological pump by altering phytoplankton nutrient distribution. In our research, we collected measurements of particulate matter concentrations during two oceanographic field studies. We observed systematic variations in organic matter concentrations and ratios across the Atlantic Ocean. From statistical modeling, we determined that these variations are associated with differences in the availability of essential nutrients for phytoplankton growth.
Climate change is anticipated to influence the biological pump by altering phytoplankton...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint