The Redfield ratio or Redfield stoichiometry is the consistent atomic ratio of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus found in marine phytoplankton and throughout the deep oceans.
The term is named for American oceanographer Alfred C. Redfield who in 1934 first described the relatively consistent ratio of nutrients in marine biomass samples collected across several voyages on board the research vessel Atlantis, and empirically found the ratio to be C:N:P = 106:16:1. [1] While deviations from the canonical 106:16:1 ratio have been found depending on phytoplankton species and the study area, the Redfield ratio has remained an important reference to oceanographers studying nutrient limitation. A 2014 paper summarizing a large data set of nutrient measurements across all major ocean regions spanning from 1970 to 2010 reported the global median C:N:P to be 163:22:1. [2]
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For his 1934 paper, Alfred Redfield analyzed nitrate and phosphate data for the Atlantic, Indian, Pacific oceans and Barents Sea. [1] As a Harvard physiologist, Redfield participated in several voyages on board the research vessel Atlantis, analyzing data for C, N, and P content in marine plankton, and referenced data collected by other researchers as early as 1898.
Redfield’s analysis of the empirical data led to him to discover that across and within the three oceans and Barents Sea, seawater had an N:P atomic ratio near 20:1 (later corrected to 16:1), and was very similar to the average N:P of phytoplankton.
To explain this phenomenon, Redfield initially proposed two mutually non-exclusive mechanisms:
I) The N:P in plankton tends towards the N:P composition of seawater. Specifically, phytoplankton species with different N and P requirements compete within the same medium and come to reflect the nutrient composition of the seawater. [1]
II) An equilibrium between seawater and planktonic nutrient pools is maintained through biotic feedback mechanisms. [1] [3] Redfield proposed a thermostat like scenario in which the activities of nitrogen fixers and denitrifiers keep the nitrate to phosphate ratio in the seawater near the requirements in the protoplasm. [4] Considering that at the time little was known about the composition of “protoplasm", or the bulk composition of phytoplankton, Redfield did not attempt to explain why its N:P ratio should be approximately 16:1.
In 1958, almost a quarter century after first discovering the ratios, Redfield leaned toward the latter mechanism in his manuscript, The Biological Control of Chemical Factors in the Environment. [3] Redfield proposed that the ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus in plankton resulted in the global ocean having a remarkably similar ratio of dissolved nitrate to phosphate (16:1). He considered how the cycles of not just N and P but also C and O could interact to result in this match.
Redfield discovered the remarkable congruence between the chemistry of the deep ocean and the chemistry of living things such as phytoplankton in the surface ocean. Both have N:P ratios of about 16:1 in terms of atoms. When nutrients are not limiting, the molar elemental ratio C:N:P in most phytoplankton is 106:16:1. Redfield thought it wasn't purely coincidental that the vast oceans would have a chemistry perfectly suited to the requirements of living organisms.
Laboratory experiments under controlled chemical conditions have found that phytoplankton biomass will conform to the Redfield ratio even when environmental nutrient levels exceed them, suggesting that ecological adaptation to oceanic nutrient ratios is not the only governing mechanism (contrary to one of the mechanisms initially proposed by Redfield). [5] However, subsequent modeling of feedback mechanisms, specifically nitrate-phosphorus coupling fluxes, do support his proposed mechanism of biotic feedback equilibrium, though these results are confounded by limitations in our current understanding of nutrient fluxes. [6]
In the ocean, a large portion of the biomass is found to be nitrogen-rich plankton. Many of these plankton are consumed by other plankton biomass which have similar chemical compositions. This results in a similar N:P ratio, on average, for all the plankton throughout the world’s oceans, empirically found to average approximately 16:1. When these organisms sink into the ocean interior, their biomass is consumed by bacteria that, in aerobic conditions, oxidize the organic matter to form dissolved inorganic nutrients, mainly carbon dioxide, nitrate, and phosphate.
That the nitrate to phosphate ratio in the interior of all of the major ocean basins is highly similar is possibly due to the residence times of these elements in the ocean relative to the ocean's circulation time, roughly 100 000 years for phosphorus and 2000 years for nitrogen. [7] The fact that the residence times of these elements are greater than the mixing times of the oceans (~ 1000 years) [8] can result in the ratio of nitrate to phosphate in the ocean interior remaining fairly uniform. It has been shown that phytoplankton play a key role in helping maintain this ratio. As organic matter sinks both nitrate and phosphate are released into the ocean via remineralization. Microorganisms preferentially consume oxygen in nitrate over phosphate leading to deeper oceanic waters having an N:P ratio of less than 16:1. From there, the ocean's currents upwell the nutrients to the surface where phytoplankton will consume the excess Phosphorus and maintain a N:P ratio of 16:1 by consuming N2 via nitrogen fixation. [9] While such arguments can potentially explain why the ratios are fairly constant, they do not address the question why the N:P ratio is nearly 16 and not some other number.
The research that resulted in this ratio has become a fundamental feature in the understanding of the biogeochemical cycles of the oceans, and one of the key tenets of biogeochemistry. The Redfield ratio is instrumental in estimating carbon and nutrient fluxes in global circulation models. They also help in determining which nutrients are limiting in a localized system, if there is a limiting nutrient. The ratio can also be used to understand the formation of phytoplankton blooms and subsequently hypoxia by comparing the ratio between different regions, such as a comparison of the Redfield Ratio of the Mississippi River to the ratio of the northern Gulf of Mexico. [10] Controlling N:P could be a means for sustainable reservoir management. [11] It may even be the case that the Redfield Ratio is applicable to terrestrial plants, soils, and soil microbial biomass, which would inform about limiting resources in terrestrial ecosystems. [12] In a study from 2007, soil and microbial biomass were found to have a consistent C:N:P ratios of 186:13:1 and 60:7:1, respectively on average at a global scale. [12]
The Redfield ratio was initially derived empirically from measurements of the elemental composition of plankton in addition to the nitrate and phosphate content of seawater collected from a few stations in the Atlantic Ocean. This was later supported by hundreds of independent measurements of dissolved nitrate and phosphate. However, the composition of individual species of phytoplankton grown under nitrogen or phosphorus limitation shows that this N:P ratio can vary anywhere from 6:1 to 60:1. While understanding this problem, Redfield never attempted to explain it with the exception of noting that the N:P ratio of inorganic nutrients in the ocean interior was an average with small scale variability to be expected.
Although the Redfield ratio is remarkably stable in the deep ocean, it has been widely shown that phytoplankton may have large variations in the C:N:P composition, and their life strategy plays a role in the C:N:P ratio. This variability has made some researchers speculate that the Redfield ratio perhaps is a general average in the modern ocean rather than a fundamental feature of phytoplankton, [13] though it has also been argued that it is related to a homeostatic protein-to-rRNA ratio fundamentally present in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, which contributes to it being the most common composition. [14] There are several possible explanations for the observed variability in C:N:P ratios. The speed at which the cell grows has an influence on cell composition and thereby its stoichiometry. [15] Also, when phosphorus is scarce, phytoplankton communities can lower their P content, raising the N:P. [16] Additionally, the accumulation and quantity of dead phytoplankton and detritus can affect the availability of certain food sources which in turn affects the composition of the cell. [17] In some ecosystems, the Redfield ratio has also been shown to vary significantly by the dominant phytoplankton taxa present in an ecosystem, even in systems with abundant nutrients. Consequently, the system-specific Redfield ratio could serve as a proxy for plankton community structure. [18]
Despite reports that the elemental composition of organisms such as marine phytoplankton in an oceanic region do not conform to the canonical Redfield ratio, the fundamental concept of this ratio remains valid and useful.
Some feel that there are other elements, such as potassium, sulfur, zinc, copper, and iron which are also important in the ocean chemistry. [19]
In particular, iron (Fe) was considered of great importance as early biological oceanographers hypothesized that iron may also be a limiting factor for primary production in the ocean. [20] Since then experimentation has proven that Iron is a limiting factor for primary production. Iron-rich solution was added to 64 km2 area which led to an increase in phytoplankton primary production. [21] As a result an extended Redfield ratio was developed to include this as part of this balance. This new stoichiometric ratio states that the ratio should be 106 C:16 N:1 P:0.1-0.001 Fe. The large variation for Fe is a result of the significant obstacle of ships and scientific equipment contaminating any samples collected at sea with excess Fe. [22] It was this contamination that resulted in early evidence suggesting that iron concentrations were high and not a limiting factor in marine primary production.
Diatoms need, among other nutrients, silicic acid to create biogenic silica for their frustules (cell walls). As a result of this, the Redfield-Brzezinski nutrient ratio was proposed for diatoms and stated to be C:Si:N:P = 106:15:16:1. [23] Extending beyond primary production itself, the oxygen consumed by aerobic respiration of phytoplankton biomass has also been shown to follow a predictable proportion to other elements. The O2:C ratio has been measured at 138:106. [6]
Phytoplankton are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words φυτόν, meaning 'plant', and πλαγκτός, meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'.
The biological pump (or ocean carbon biological pump or marine biological carbon pump) is the ocean's biologically driven sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere and land runoff to the ocean interior and seafloor sediments. In other words, it is a biologically mediated process which results in the sequestering of carbon in the deep ocean away from the atmosphere and the land. The biological pump is the biological component of the "marine carbon pump" which contains both a physical and biological component. It is the part of the broader oceanic carbon cycle responsible for the cycling of organic matter formed mainly by phytoplankton during photosynthesis (soft-tissue pump), as well as the cycling of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) formed into shells by certain organisms such as plankton and mollusks (carbonate pump).
A limiting factor is a variable of a system that causes a noticeable change in output or another measure of a type of system. The limiting factor is in a pyramid shape of organisms going up from the producers to consumers and so on. A factor not limiting over a certain domain of starting conditions may yet be limiting over another domain of starting conditions, including that of the factor.
The iron cycle (Fe) is the biogeochemical cycle of iron through the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and lithosphere. While Fe is highly abundant in the Earth's crust, it is less common in oxygenated surface waters. Iron is a key micronutrient in primary productivity, and a limiting nutrient in the Southern ocean, eastern equatorial Pacific, and the subarctic Pacific referred to as High-Nutrient, Low-Chlorophyll (HNLC) regions of the ocean.
High-nutrient, low-chlorophyll (HNLC) regions are regions of the ocean where the abundance of phytoplankton is low and fairly constant despite the availability of macronutrients. Phytoplankton rely on a suite of nutrients for cellular function. Macronutrients are generally available in higher quantities in surface ocean waters, and are the typical components of common garden fertilizers. Micronutrients are generally available in lower quantities and include trace metals. Macronutrients are typically available in millimolar concentrations, while micronutrients are generally available in micro- to nanomolar concentrations. In general, nitrogen tends to be a limiting ocean nutrient, but in HNLC regions it is never significantly depleted. Instead, these regions tend to be limited by low concentrations of metabolizable iron. Iron is a critical phytoplankton micronutrient necessary for enzyme catalysis and electron transport.
In oceanic biogeochemistry, the f-ratio is the fraction of total primary production fuelled by nitrate. The ratio was originally defined by Richard Eppley and Bruce Peterson in one of the first papers estimating global oceanic production. This fraction was originally believed significant because it appeared to directly relate to the sinking (export) flux of organic marine snow from the surface ocean by the biological pump. However, this interpretation relied on the assumption of a strong depth-partitioning of a parallel process, nitrification, that more recent measurements has questioned.
Ecological stoichiometry considers how the balance of energy and elements influences living systems. Similar to chemical stoichiometry, ecological stoichiometry is founded on constraints of mass balance as they apply to organisms and their interactions in ecosystems. Specifically, how does the balance of energy and elements affect and how is this balance affected by organisms and their interactions. Concepts of ecological stoichiometry have a long history in ecology with early references to the constraints of mass balance made by Liebig, Lotka, and Redfield. These earlier concepts have been extended to explicitly link the elemental physiology of organisms to their food web interactions and ecosystem function.
Ocean fertilization or ocean nourishment is a type of technology for carbon dioxide removal from the ocean based on the purposeful introduction of plant nutrients to the upper ocean to increase marine food production and to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Ocean nutrient fertilization, for example iron fertilization, could stimulate photosynthesis in phytoplankton. The phytoplankton would convert the ocean's dissolved carbon dioxide into carbohydrate, some of which would sink into the deeper ocean before oxidizing. More than a dozen open-sea experiments confirmed that adding iron to the ocean increases photosynthesis in phytoplankton by up to 30 times.
The phosphorus cycle is the biogeochemical cycle that involves the movement of phosphorus through the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. Unlike many other biogeochemical cycles, the atmosphere does not play a significant role in the movement of phosphorus, because phosphorus and phosphorus-based materials do not enter the gaseous phase readily, as the main source of gaseous phosphorus, phosphine, is only produced in isolated and specific conditions. Therefore, the phosphorus cycle is primarily examined studying the movement of orthophosphate (PO4)3-, the form of phosphorus that is most commonly seen in the environment, through terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
The deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM), also called the subsurface chlorophyll maximum, is the region below the surface of water with the maximum concentration of chlorophyll. The DCM generally exists at the same depth as the nutricline, the region of the ocean where the greatest change in the nutrient concentration occurs with depth.
Bacterioplankton refers to the bacterial component of the plankton that drifts in the water column. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word πλανκτος, meaning "wanderer" or "drifter", and bacterium, a Latin term coined in the 19th century by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg. They are found in both seawater and freshwater.
A planktivore is an aquatic organism that feeds on planktonic food, including zooplankton and phytoplankton. Planktivorous organisms encompass a range of some of the planet's smallest to largest multicellular animals in both the present day and in the past billion years; basking sharks and copepods are just two examples of giant and microscopic organisms that feed upon plankton.
Marine biogeochemical cycles are biogeochemical cycles that occur within marine environments, that is, in the saltwater of seas or oceans or the brackish water of coastal estuaries. These biogeochemical cycles are the pathways chemical substances and elements move through within the marine environment. In addition, substances and elements can be imported into or exported from the marine environment. These imports and exports can occur as exchanges with the atmosphere above, the ocean floor below, or as runoff from the land.
The Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling (SOCCOM) project is a large scale National Science Foundation funded research project based at Princeton University that started in September 2014. The project aims to increase the understanding of the Southern Ocean and the role it plays in factors such as climate, as well as educate new scientists with oceanic observation.
Nutrient cycling in the Columbia River Basin involves the transport of nutrients through the system, as well as transformations from among dissolved, solid, and gaseous phases, depending on the element. The elements that constitute important nutrient cycles include macronutrients such as nitrogen, silicate, phosphorus, and micronutrients, which are found in trace amounts, such as iron. Their cycling within a system is controlled by many biological, chemical, and physical processes.
Aureoumbra lagunensis is a unicellular planktonic marine microalga that belongs in the genus Aureoumbra under the class Pelagophyceae. It is similar in morphology and pigments to Aureococcus anophagefferens and Pelagococcus subviridis. The cell shape is spherical to subspherical and is 2.5 to 5.0 μm in diameter. It is golden-coloured and is encapsulated with extracellular polysaccharide layers and has a single chloroplast structure with pigments.
The viral shunt is a mechanism that prevents marine microbial particulate organic matter (POM) from migrating up trophic levels by recycling them into dissolved organic matter (DOM), which can be readily taken up by microorganisms. The DOM recycled by the viral shunt pathway is comparable to the amount generated by the other main sources of marine DOM.
Marine primary production is the chemical synthesis in the ocean of organic compounds from atmospheric or dissolved carbon dioxide. It principally occurs through the process of photosynthesis, which uses light as its source of energy, but it also occurs through chemosynthesis, which uses the oxidation or reduction of inorganic chemical compounds as its source of energy. Almost all life on Earth relies directly or indirectly on primary production. The organisms responsible for primary production are called primary producers or autotrophs.
Lake 226 is one lake in Canada's Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) in Ontario. The ELA is a freshwater and fisheries research facility that operated these experiments alongside Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Environment Canada. In 1968 this area in northwest Ontario was set aside for limnological research, aiming to study the watershed of the 58 small lakes in this area. The ELA projects began as a response to the claim that carbon was the limiting agent causing eutrophication of lakes rather than phosphorus, and that monitoring phosphorus in the water would be a waste of money. This claim was made by soap and detergent companies, as these products do not biodegrade and can cause buildup of phosphates in water supplies that lead to eutrophication. The theory that carbon was the limiting agent was quickly debunked by the ELA Lake 227 experiment that began in 1969, which found that carbon could be drawn from the atmosphere to remain proportional to the input of phosphorus in the water. Experimental Lake 226 was then created to test phosphorus' impact on eutrophication by itself.
Low-nutrient, low-chlorophyll (LNLC)regions are aquatic zones that are low in nutrients and consequently have low rate of primary production, as indicated by low chlorophyll concentrations. These regions can be described as oligotrophic, and about 75% of the world's oceans encompass LNLC regions. A majority of LNLC regions are associated with subtropical gyres but are also present in areas of the Mediterranean Sea, and some inland lakes. Physical processes limit nutrient availability in LNLC regions, which favors nutrient recycling in the photic zone and selects for smaller phytoplankton species. LNLC regions are generally not found near coasts, owing to the fact that coastal areas receive more nutrients from terrestrial sources and upwelling. In marine systems, seasonal and decadal variability of primary productivity in LNLC regions is driven in part by large-scale climatic regimes leading to important effects on the global carbon cycle and the oceanic carbon cycle.