Zinc stimulation of phytoplankton in a low-carbon-dioxide, coastal Antarctic environment: evidence for the Zn hypothesis

Kell, Riss M.; Subhas, Adam V.; Schanke, Nicole L.; Lees, Lauren E.; Chmiel, Rebecca J.; Rao, Deepa; Brisbin, Margaret M.; Moran, Dawn M.; McIlvin, Matthew R.; Bolinesi, Francesco; Mangoni, Olga; Casotti, Raffaella; Balestra, Cecilia; Horner, Tristan J.; Dunbar, Robert B.; Allen, Andrew E.; DiTullio, Giacomo R.; Saito, Mak A.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-5877-2025

Articles | Volume 22, issue 20

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-5877-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-5877-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 20

Research article

|

22 Oct 2025

Research article |

| 22 Oct 2025

Zinc stimulation of phytoplankton in a low-carbon-dioxide, coastal Antarctic environment: evidence for the Zn hypothesis

Riss M. Kell, Adam V. Subhas, Nicole L. Schanke, Lauren E. Lees, Rebecca J. Chmiel, Deepa Rao, Margaret M. Brisbin, Dawn M. Moran, Matthew R. McIlvin, Francesco Bolinesi, Olga Mangoni, Raffaella Casotti, Cecilia Balestra, Tristan J. Horner, Robert B. Dunbar, Andrew E. Allen, Giacomo R. DiTullio, and Mak A. Saito

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-5877-2025-supplement

Data sets

Hydrographic data collected by CTD during RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer cruise in the Ross Sea, Southern Ocean from 2017-2018 G. DiTullio and P. Lee https://doi.org/10.1575/1912/bco-dmo.783911.1

Nathaniel B. Palmer CRUISE ID NBP1801 G. DiTullio https://doi.org/10.7284/907753

pCO2 (LDEO pCO2) data as collected during the cruise NBP1801, Ditullio/B-007; Dunbar/O-131; Saba/B-050 G. DiTullio https://doi.org/10.7284/139318

CICLOPS Project (Cruise NBP1801) Data Overview R. Lampe et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17287908

Metatranscriptome assembly and annotations for CICLOPS (NBP1801) R. Lampe and A. Allen https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17307449

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Short summary

Photosynthetic productivity is strongly influenced by water column nutrient availability. Despite the importance of zinc, definitive evidence for oceanic zinc limitation of photosynthesis has been scarce. We applied multiple biogeochemical measurements to a field site in Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica, to demonstrate that the phytoplankton community was experiencing zinc limitation. This field evidence paves the way for future experimental studies to consider Zn as a limiting oceanic micronutrient.