Nitrogen Fixation and the Production of Dissolved Organic Nitrogen in the North Pacific Ocean

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ABSTRACTOCE-0224498Although dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) is the largest reservoir of fixed nitrogen in the surface ocean, little is know about its relationship to nitrogen fixation and the nitrogen nutrient requirements of the oceanic phytoplankton. In this Small Grant for Exploratory Research, investigators at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will take advantage of a cruise to the centtral gyre of the North Pacific Ocean to study the relationship between climate variation, water column physics, the biological community dynamics of obligate diazotrophs, and the production of dissolved organic nitrogen. The research team will conduct observational studies as well as shipboard incubation experiments to determine how the fixed nitrogen generated by the activities of Trichodesmium and other diazotrophs are cycled in the surface ocean and how it relates to the pool of DON.