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 National Science
Foundation Award #0440840 |
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Interactions between Cobalt, Cadmium, and Zinc Biogeochemistry and Phytoplankton Dynamics in the Ross Sea |
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| Investigator(s): |
Mak Saito (PI)
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| Sponsor: |
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MA 02543 5085481400
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| Start Date/Expiration Date |
2005-01-01 to 2007-12-31 (amended 2004-09-03) |
| Awarded Amount to Date: |
$423,688 |
| Abstract: The proposed work extends the scope of an interdisciplinary shipboard program to investigate the environmental factors that regulate the distribution and production of antarctic algal groups in the Ross Sea, by adding cobalt, cadmium, and zinc trace metal analyses to the iron component that had been included in a previously funded project. The additional trace metal analyses will be highly complementary to the cruise objectives because carbon acquisition by marine phytoplankton is known to be dependent on carbonic anhydrase, a metalloenzyme that may be activated by any of these three trace elements.
Studies of phytoplankton abundances in the Ross Sea region have shown that productivity is dominated by two major phytoplankton groups: Phaeocystis antarctica and diatoms. Diatoms tend to dominate in highly stratified waters, while Phaeocystis is dominant where deeper mixing is observed, implying that Phaeocystis are more efficient under low light conditions. Phaeocystis populations have been observed to cause rapid and early export of carbon from the photic zone, leading to the hypothesis that CO2 drawdown could decrease significantly if climate-induced upper ocean stratification were to increase.
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| NSF Org: |
ANT - Antarctic Sciences Section |
| Award Number: |
0440840 |
| Award Instrument: |
Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Bernhard Lettau
ANT Antarctic Sciences Section
OPP Office of Polar Programs
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| NSF Program(s): |
ANTARCTIC BIOLOGY & MEDICINE, ANTARCTIC OCEANS & CLIMATE SYS |
| Field Application(s): |
Polar Programs-Related |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
UNASSIGNED, 0000 |
| Program Element Code(s): |
5111
ANTARCTIC OCEANS & CLIMATE SYS, 5113 |
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