The Distribution and Dynamics of Bioactive Metals Within the Marine Colloidal Phase

人们知道，在某些情况下，海洋中浮游植物的产量受到它们可获得的铁(或许还有其他微量金属)的数量的限制。并不是这些痕量金属的每一种化学形式都能被这些生物利用。由于从生物学的角度来看，其中最重要的是铁，它很容易在海水中形成胶体，因此从海洋生态和地球化学的角度了解胶体对浮游植物的有效性以及铁和其他痕量金属如何进入和移出胶体相是很重要的。在这个项目中，首席调查人员将对加州中部大陆架水域中的铁和其他六种具有生物活性的痕量金属进行研究。使用一种相对较新的技术，称为错流过滤，将检查铁和其他微量金属在溶解和胶体相(不同粒级)中的分布。特别是，将通过船上培养以及现场比较胶体金属的分布和水柱中的浮游生物产量来研究铁和其他微量金属在胶体相中的生物有效性。

The production of phytoplankton in the ocean is know to be limited under some circumstances by the amount of iron (and perhaps other trace metals) available to them. Not every chemical form of these trace metals can be utilized by these organisms. Since the most important of these from a biological standpoint is iron, which readily forms colloids in seawater, it is important from marine ecological and geochemical perspectives to understand how available colloidal is to the phytoplankton and how iron and other trace metals move into and out of the colloidal phase. In this project, the principal investigators will undertake a study of iron and six other biologically active trace metals in the waters of the continental shelf of central California. Using a relatively new technique called cross-flow filtration, the distribution of iron and the other trace metals in dissolved and colloidal phases (different size classes) will be examined. In particular the biological availability of iron and other trace metals in the colloidal phases will be investigated by running shipboard incubations and also by in situ comparisons of colloid-metal distributions and plankton production in the water column.