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 9 May 2003:
Vol. 300. no. 5621, pp. 944 - 947
DOI: 10.1126/science.1083545
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Review

The Biogeochemical Cycles of Trace Metals in the Oceans

F. M. M. Morel1* and N. M. Price2

Planktonic uptake of some essential metals results in extraordinarily low concentrations in surface seawater. To sequester or take up these micronutrients, various microorganisms apparently release strong complexing agents and catalyze redox reactions that modify the bioavailability of trace metals and promote their rapid cycling in the upper water column. In turn, the low availability of some metals controls the rate of photosynthesis in parts of the oceans and the transformation and uptake of major nutrients such as nitrogen. The extremely low concentrations of several essential metals are both the cause and the result of ultraefficient uptake systems in the plankton and of widespread replacement of metals by one another for various biochemical functions.

1 Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
2 Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal QC H3A1B1, Canada.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: morel{at}princeton.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Pond Scum Genomics: The Genomes of Chlamydomonas and Ostreococcus.
G. Peers and K. K. Niyogi (2008)
PLANT CELL 20, 502-507
   Full Text »    PDF »
Ni Uptake and Limitation in Marine Synechococcus Strains.
C. L. Dupont, K. Barbeau, and B. Palenik (2008)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 74, 23-31
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Global Iron Connections Between Desert Dust, Ocean Biogeochemistry, and Climate.
T. D. Jickells, Z. S. An, K. K. Andersen, A. R. Baker, G. Bergametti, N. Brooks, J. J. Cao, P. W. Boyd, R. A. Duce, K. A. Hunter, et al. (2005)
Science 308, 67-71
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Critical Roles of Bacterioferritins in Iron Storage and Proliferation of Cyanobacteria.
N. Keren, R. Aurora, and H. B. Pakrasi (2004)
Plant Physiology 135, 1666-1673
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Microbial Genomics and the Periodic Table.
L. P. Wackett, A. G. Dodge, and L. B. M. Ellis (2004)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 70, 647-655
   Full Text »    PDF »
The Stable Isotope Geochemistry of Copper and Zinc.
F. Albarede (2004)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 55, 409-427
   Full Text »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

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