The Relationship Between Iron Availability and Phytoplankton Productivity in the Souther Ocean

如果不知道为什么主要的营养物永远不会在近海、开阔的海域耗尽的原因，就永远无法充分了解南大洋。马丁博士提议验证南大洋浮游植物生产力的变化与铁的可用性直接相关的假设。1989年3月/ 4月和1990年1月/ 2月分别在德雷克海峡的公海和罗斯海收集了样本以检验这一假设。初步结果表明，缺铁是导致南大洋近海浮游植物不能大量繁殖和消耗主要营养物质的主要原因。本提案要求重新提供一年的资金，以支持我们对样品的持续分析和对缺铁假设的测试。

The Southern Ocean will never be adequately understood without knowing the reasons why major nutrients never go to depletion in offshore, open-ocean waters. Dr. Martin proposes to test the hypothesis that phytoplankton productivity in the Southern Ocean varies in direct relation to iron availability. Samples to test this hypothesis were collected in the open-ocean waters of the Drake Passage in March/April 1989 and in the Ross Sea in January/February 1990. Initial results suggest that iron deficiency is the primary reason that the phytoplankton fail to bloom and use up major nutrients in offshore Southern Ocean waters. Renewed funding for one year to support our continued analysis of samples and testing of the iron deficiency hypothesis is requested in this proposal.