Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 2 February 2007:
Vol. 315. no. 5812, pp. 612 - 617
DOI: 10.1126/science.1131669
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Review

Mesoscale Iron Enrichment Experiments 1993-2005: Synthesis and Future Directions

P. W. Boyd,1* T. Jickells,2 C. S. Law,3 S. Blain,4 E. A. Boyle,5 K. O. Buesseler,6 K. H. Coale,7 J. J. Cullen,8 H. J. W. de Baar,9 M. Follows,5 M. Harvey,3 C. Lancelot,10 M. Levasseur,11 N. P. J. Owens,12 R. Pollard,13 R. B. Rivkin,14 J. Sarmiento,15 V. Schoemann,10 V. Smetacek,16 S. Takeda,17 A. Tsuda,18 S. Turner,2 A. J. Watson2

Since the mid-1980s, our understanding of nutrient limitation of oceanic primary production has radically changed. Mesoscale iron addition experiments (FeAXs) have unequivocally shown that iron supply limits production in one-third of the world ocean, where surface macronutrient concentrations are perennially high. The findings of these 12 FeAXs also reveal that iron supply exerts controls on the dynamics of plankton blooms, which in turn affect the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, silicon, and sulfur and ultimately influence the Earth climate system. However, extrapolation of the key results of FeAXs to regional and seasonal scales in some cases is limited because of differing modes of iron supply in FeAXs and in the modern and paleo-oceans. New research directions include quantification of the coupling of oceanic iron and carbon biogeochemistry.

1 National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) Centre for Chemical and Physical Oceanography, Department of Chemistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
2 School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK.
3 NIWA, Evans Bay Parade, Kilbirnie, Wellington, New Zealand.
4 Laboratoire d'Océanographie et de Biogéochimie, Campus de Luminy, Case 901, F-16288 Marseille Cedex 09, France.
5 Department of Earth, Atmosphere and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
6 Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
7 Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, 8272 Moss Landing Road, Moss Landing, CA 95039, USA.
8 Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4J1, Canada.
9 Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, 1790 AB Den Burg, Netherlands.
10 Ecologie des Systèmes Aquatiques, Université Libre de Bruxelles, B-1050 Bruxelles, Belgium.
11 Département de Biologie (Québec-Océan), Université Laval, Ste-Foy, Québec G1K 7P4, Canada.
12 Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, The Hoe, Plymouth PL1 3DH, UK.
13 National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, University of Southampton, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK.
14 Ocean Sciences Centre, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland A1C 5S7, Canada.
15 Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program, Princeton University, Sayre Hall, Forrestal Campus, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
16 Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany.
17 Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo, Yayoi 1-1-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan.
18 Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: pboyd{at}alkali.otago.ac.nz

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Ecological Genomics of Marine Picocyanobacteria.
D. J. Scanlan, M. Ostrowski, S. Mazard, A. Dufresne, L. Garczarek, W. R. Hess, A. F. Post, M. Hagemann, I. Paulsen, and F. Partensky (2009)
Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 73, 249-299
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
From the Cover: Toxicity of atmospheric aerosols on marine phytoplankton.
A. Paytan, K. R. M. Mackey, Y. Chen, I. D. Lima, S. C. Doney, N. Mahowald, R. Labiosa, and A. F. Post (2009)
PNAS 106, 4601-4605
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Ocean fertilization: a potential means of geoengineering?.
R.S Lampitt, E.P Achterberg, T.R Anderson, J.A Hughes, M.D Iglesias-Rodriguez, B.A Kelly-Gerreyn, M Lucas, E.E Popova, R Sanders, J.G Shepherd, et al. (2008)
Phil Trans R Soc A 366, 3919-3945
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The next generation of iron fertilization experiments in the Southern Ocean.
V Smetacek and S.W.A Naqvi (2008)
Phil Trans R Soc A 366, 3947-3967
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Connections between climate, food limitation, and carbon cycling in abyssal sediment communities.
H. A. Ruhl, J. A. Ellena, and K. L. Smith Jr. (2008)
PNAS 105, 17006-17011
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Whole-cell response of the pennate diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum to iron starvation.
A. E. Allen, J. LaRoche, U. Maheswari, M. Lommer, N. Schauer, P. J. Lopez, G. Finazzi, A. R. Fernie, and C. Bowler (2008)
PNAS 105, 10438-10443
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
FER1 and FER2 Encoding Two Ferritin Complexes in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Chloroplasts Are Regulated by Iron.
J. C. Long, F. Sommer, M. D. Allen, S.-F. Lu, and S. S. Merchant (2008)
Genetics 179, 137-147
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Photosynthetic maximum quantum yield increases are an essential component of the Southern Ocean phytoplankton response to iron.
M. R. Hiscock, V. P. Lance, A. M. Apprill, R. R. Bidigare, Z. I. Johnson, B. G. Mitchell, W. O. Smith Jr., and R. T. Barber (2008)
PNAS 105, 4775-4780
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
From the Cover: Whole-genome expression profiling of the marine diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana identifies genes involved in silicon bioprocesses.
T. Mock, M. P. Samanta, V. Iverson, C. Berthiaume, M. Robison, K. Holtermann, C. Durkin, S. S. BonDurant, K. Richmond, M. Rodesch, et al. (2008)
PNAS 105, 1579-1584
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Comment on "The Southern Ocean Biological Response to Aeolian Iron Deposition".
P. W. Boyd and D. Mackie (2008)
Science 319, 159a
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Response to Comment on "The Southern Ocean Biological Response to Aeolian Iron Deposition".
N. Cassar, M. L. Bender, B. A. Barnett, S. Fan, W. J. Moxim, H. Levy II, and B. Tilbrook (2008)
Science 319, 159b
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Southern Ocean Biological Response to Aeolian Iron Deposition.
N. Cassar, M. L. Bender, B. A. Barnett, S. Fan, W. J. Moxim, H. Levy II, and B. Tilbrook (2007)
Science 317, 1067-1070
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Free-Drifting Icebergs: Hot Spots of Chemical and Biological Enrichment in the Weddell Sea.
K. L. Smith Jr., B. H. Robison, J. J. Helly, R. S. Kaufmann, H. A. Ruhl, T. J. Shaw, B. S. Twining, and M. Vernet (2007)
Science 317, 478-482
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Trace gas emissions from the marine biosphere.
P. S Liss (2007)
Phil Trans R Soc A 365, 1697-1704
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)