New Production and Carbon Cycling in Marine Plankton Systems

从海洋表面输出有机物是一种 重要的生物和化学过程。 从生物学上讲，这 出口喂养大多数更深的居住生物，化学上， 会影响二氧化碳和氧气等气体的交换 与大气层。 出口通常以碳排放量来定义。 一种常见的方法是从一个有限的 营养物，如浮游生物总量中的新（硝酸盐）成分 假设6.6个碳原子被出口， 新产品的每一个原子。 然而，该齿轮比（ Redfield比率）之间的地表水碳和氮 周期从未被严格检验过。 最近的测量 不同的海洋区域表明， 与新产品相关的碳排放量超过了 Redfield转换率超过50%。 因此，目前的概念 海洋中的营养循环可能存在严重缺陷， 海洋作为碳汇和O2源的作用可能是 严重低估。 这项研究代表了第一个 对新生产和新产品之间关系的定量研究 溶解无机碳和O2的净产量 通过孵化实验可以分离出 混合和气体交换的混杂效应。 这些实验将提供关键的关系， 需要更准确地估计海洋的碳和氧 剂. 碳和氮的差别循环作为一种 Redfield C：N转换在地表水中失败的原因将 也被评价。

The export of organic matter from the ocean's surface is an important biological and chemical process. Biologically, this export feeds most deeper dwelling organisms, and chemically it influences the exchange of gases like carbon dioxide and oxygen with the atmosphere. Export usually is defined in terms of carbon. A common approach is to estimate carbon export from a limiting nutrient such as the new (nitrate) component of total plankton production by assuming that 6.6 atoms of carbon are exported for each atom of new production. However, this gear ratio (one of the Redfield ratios) between the surface water carbon and nitrogen cycles has never been rigorously examined. Recent measurements in diverse ocean areas indicate that the net change in inorganic carbon associated with new production exceeds that predicted from the Redfield conversion by more than 50%. Thus, current concepts or nutrient cycling in the ocean may be seriously flawed and the role or the ocean as a carbon sink and as an O2 source may be significantly underestimated. This research represents the first quantitative study of the relationship between new production and net production in terms of both dissolved inorganic carbon and O2 with incubation experiments that can isolate the biological processes from the confounding effects of mixing and gas exchange. These experiments will provide critical relationships that are needed for more accurate estimates of oceanic carbon and oxygen fluxes. The differential recycling of carbon and nitrogen as a reason why the Redfield C:N conversion fails in surface water will also be evaluated.