Major Key Points: Oceans Invisible forest
- Every drop of water in thetop top 100 meters of the ocean contains thousands of free-floating, microscopic flora called phytoplankton
-Until recently,however, few researchers appreciated the degree to which these diminutive ocean dwellers can draw the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere and store it in the deep sea
-. A two-monthexperiment conducted early this year inthe Southern Ocean confirmed that injecting surface waters with trace amounts of iron stimulates phytoplankton growth; however, the efficacy and prudence of widespread, commercial ocean-fertilization schemes are still hotly debated.
-The planet’s cycle of carbon (and, toa large extent, its climate) depends onphotosynthetic organisms using the hydrogen to help convert the inorganic carbon in CO2 into organic matter—the sugars, amino acids and other biological molecules that make up their cells
-Earlier investigations had suggested that land plants assimilate as much as 100 billion metric tons of inorganic carbon a year. To the surprise of many ecologists, our satellite analysis revealed that they assimilate only about 52 billion metric tons. In other words, phytoplankton draw nearly as much CO2 out of the atmosphere and oceans through photosynthesis as do trees, grasses and all other land plants combined.
-LEARNING THAT phytoplankton were twice as productive as previously thought meant that biologists had to reconsider phytoplankton’s ultimate fate, which strongly modifies the planet’s cycle of carbon and CO2 gas
-As phytoplankton cells divide—every six days on average—half the daughter cells die or are eaten by zooplankton, miniature animals that in turn provide food for shrimp, fish and larger carnivores
-Beginning in 1988, JGOFS investigators began quantifying the oceanic carbon cycle, in which the organic matter in the dead phytoplankton cells and animals’ fecal material sinks and is consumed by microbes that convert it back into inorganic nutrients, including CO2.
-phytoplankton remove CO2 from the surface waters and atmosphere and store it in the deep ocean.
-Of the two primary nutrients that all phytoplankton need—nitrogen and phosphorus—phosphorus was long thought to be the harder to come by. Essential for synthesis of nucleic acids, phosphorus occurs exclusively in phosphate minerals within continental rocks and thus enters the oceans only via freshwater runoff such as rivers. Nitrogen (N2) is the most abundant gas in the earth’s atmosphere anddissolves freely in seawater. By the early 1980s, however, biological oceanographers had begun to realize that they were overestimating the rate at which nitrogen becomes available for use by living organisms. The vast majority of phytoplankton can use nitrogen to build proteins only after it is fixed—in other words, combined with hydrogen or oxygen atoms to form ammonium (NH4+),nitrite (NO2–) or nitrate (NO3–). The vast majority of nitrogen is fixed by small subsets of bacteria and cyanobacteria that convert N2 to ammonium, which is released into seawater as the organisms die and decay
- Nitrogen (N2) is the most abundant gas in the earth’s atmosphere and dissolves freely in water
-The vast majority of phytoplankton can use nitrogen to build proteins only after it is fixed—in other words, combined with hydrogen or oxygen atoms to form ammonium (NH4+),nitrite (NO2–) or nitrate (NO3–).
-But Martin and his coworkers pointed out that practically the only way iron reaches the surface waters of the open ocean is via windblown dust.
-The Vostok ice core, a record of the past 420,000 years of the earth’s history, implied that during ice ages the amount of iron was much higher and the average size of the dust particles was significantly larger than during warmer times. These findings suggest that the continents were dry and wind speeds were high during glacial periods, thereby injecting more iron and dust into the atmosphere than during wetter interglacial times
-some groups from both the private and public sectors have taken steps toward doing so on much larger scales
-One company has proposed a scheme in which commercial ships that routinely traverse the southern Pacific would release small amounts of a fertilizer mix. Other groups have discussed the possibility of piping nutrients, including iron and ammonia, directly into coastal waters to trigger phytoplankton blooms.
-Until recently,however, few researchers appreciated the degree to which these diminutive ocean dwellers can draw the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere and store it in the deep sea
-. A two-monthexperiment conducted early this year inthe Southern Ocean confirmed that injecting surface waters with trace amounts of iron stimulates phytoplankton growth; however, the efficacy and prudence of widespread, commercial ocean-fertilization schemes are still hotly debated.
-The planet’s cycle of carbon (and, toa large extent, its climate) depends onphotosynthetic organisms using the hydrogen to help convert the inorganic carbon in CO2 into organic matter—the sugars, amino acids and other biological molecules that make up their cells
-Earlier investigations had suggested that land plants assimilate as much as 100 billion metric tons of inorganic carbon a year. To the surprise of many ecologists, our satellite analysis revealed that they assimilate only about 52 billion metric tons. In other words, phytoplankton draw nearly as much CO2 out of the atmosphere and oceans through photosynthesis as do trees, grasses and all other land plants combined.
-LEARNING THAT phytoplankton were twice as productive as previously thought meant that biologists had to reconsider phytoplankton’s ultimate fate, which strongly modifies the planet’s cycle of carbon and CO2 gas
-As phytoplankton cells divide—every six days on average—half the daughter cells die or are eaten by zooplankton, miniature animals that in turn provide food for shrimp, fish and larger carnivores
-Beginning in 1988, JGOFS investigators began quantifying the oceanic carbon cycle, in which the organic matter in the dead phytoplankton cells and animals’ fecal material sinks and is consumed by microbes that convert it back into inorganic nutrients, including CO2.
-phytoplankton remove CO2 from the surface waters and atmosphere and store it in the deep ocean.
-Of the two primary nutrients that all phytoplankton need—nitrogen and phosphorus—phosphorus was long thought to be the harder to come by. Essential for synthesis of nucleic acids, phosphorus occurs exclusively in phosphate minerals within continental rocks and thus enters the oceans only via freshwater runoff such as rivers. Nitrogen (N2) is the most abundant gas in the earth’s atmosphere anddissolves freely in seawater. By the early 1980s, however, biological oceanographers had begun to realize that they were overestimating the rate at which nitrogen becomes available for use by living organisms. The vast majority of phytoplankton can use nitrogen to build proteins only after it is fixed—in other words, combined with hydrogen or oxygen atoms to form ammonium (NH4+),nitrite (NO2–) or nitrate (NO3–). The vast majority of nitrogen is fixed by small subsets of bacteria and cyanobacteria that convert N2 to ammonium, which is released into seawater as the organisms die and decay
- Nitrogen (N2) is the most abundant gas in the earth’s atmosphere and dissolves freely in water
-The vast majority of phytoplankton can use nitrogen to build proteins only after it is fixed—in other words, combined with hydrogen or oxygen atoms to form ammonium (NH4+),nitrite (NO2–) or nitrate (NO3–).
-But Martin and his coworkers pointed out that practically the only way iron reaches the surface waters of the open ocean is via windblown dust.
-The Vostok ice core, a record of the past 420,000 years of the earth’s history, implied that during ice ages the amount of iron was much higher and the average size of the dust particles was significantly larger than during warmer times. These findings suggest that the continents were dry and wind speeds were high during glacial periods, thereby injecting more iron and dust into the atmosphere than during wetter interglacial times
-some groups from both the private and public sectors have taken steps toward doing so on much larger scales
-One company has proposed a scheme in which commercial ships that routinely traverse the southern Pacific would release small amounts of a fertilizer mix. Other groups have discussed the possibility of piping nutrients, including iron and ammonia, directly into coastal waters to trigger phytoplankton blooms.
Summary of authors main points :
Plankton are very important factors of the ocean because they can get rid of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Since the discovery of phytoplankton helping with getting rid of carbon dioxide many investigations and experiments have been done to know why they are important what do they do and what do they need to keep reproducing. Southern ocean was one of the organization that did an investigation and they confirmed that the phytoplankton need iron to survive and another investigation was done which consisted that phytoplankton assimilate only about 52 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide which means that phytoplankton draw more CO2 out of the water than trees, grasses and other land plants combined. For phytoplankton to survive they need to primary nutrients which are nitrogen and phosphorus. Phosphorus in the case is much harder to get because it occurs in phosphate mineral within rocks and only enters the ocean by fresh water such as rivers. Nitrogen is easier to get but it can only be use by phtoplankton if its fixed which mean in the form of ammonium, nitrite, nor nitrate, which are fixed by subsets of bacteria and cyanobacteria. Iron in the other hand was seen to be hard to get as well so the scientist named martin and his workers set the discovery of where to get iron for phytoplankton. The only way iron can reach the surface waters of the ocean ocean is via windblown dust. Due to this it was important to obtain the iron so researches conducted a research that explained that the Voskot ice core, have had the most iron and the average size of the dust particles were much larger during the ice ages. This research set the tone that continents were dry and that wind speeds were much higher during glacial periods. Many groups have seen that it is hard to get this nutrients to phytoplankton so they have sets step and suggestions to fixing the problem . One of the suggestions is a scheme in which commercial ships that routinely traverse the southern Pacific would release small amounts of a fertilizer mix. Other groups have discussed the possibility of piping nutrients, including iron and ammonia, directly into coastal waters to trigger phytoplankton blooms.
My own reaction
My reaction towards this article i think is very simple due to the fact that its obvious that it is necessary to do such a procedure due to too much carbon dioxide. So much carbon dioxide is in the air that phytoplankton or plants cant take it all at once since their is so much in the ecosystem. The fact that we are running out of resources and animals is very hard to understand. I think that it is possible to fix the problem to some extent it will not fix completely but it wont hurt us if we try. In my opinion the suggestions at the end did not seem so bad because if that is the only choices we have their is no reason to try it. The article was very interesting because in class we have been touching different topics of phytoplankton bu we haven't completely conversed it all. By reading this article it gave me a better understanding of phytoplanton and how they work because it gave examples and different aspects that i really liked. I also liked the fat that many researchers have taken their time to conduct investigations on it.
So what? Says who? What if...?What does this remind me of?
So what?
It is important to know about phytoplankton because it is what gets rid of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere- it takes more than plants in the lands combined, carbon dioxide is bad for our help and more of it will increase in time , too much can disrupt the ecosystem and kill animals and ruin the food chain. |
Says who?
-Scientist have said and conducted investigations on it but also may different organizations have set ideas and goal into producing a better environment and ecosystem for all. |
What if...?
-if its is not addressed the worst it gets and phytoplankton will die and the food chain will be disrupt and it will take a long time for other animals to adapt in the new environment , which will affect human society as well. -If the problem is addressed and helped many good things will come again we will have better and fresher air our water would be cleaner we would focus on things such as world unity or something other than having a lot of problems |
What does this remind me of?
This reminds me of the lorax and how the air became very filthy and in my head i predict the air quality to be like that or even worst that we wont be able to see each other when walking in the streets or wearing air mask. |