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Stabilization of the coupled oxygen and phosphorus cycles by the evolution of bioturbation

Nature Geoscience volume 7, pages 671–676 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Animal burrowing and sediment-mixing (bioturbation) began during the run up to the Ediacaran/Cambrian boundary1,2,3, initiating a transition4,5 between the stratified Precambrian6 and more well-mixed Phanerozoic7 sedimentary records, against the backdrop of a variable8,9 global oxygen reservoir probably smaller in size than present10,11. Phosphorus is the long-term12 limiting nutrient for oxygen production via burial of organic carbon13, and its retention (relative to carbon) within organic matter in marine sediments is enhanced by bioturbation14,15,16,17,18. Here we explore the biogeochemical implications of a bioturbation-induced organic phosphorus sink in a simple model. We show that increased bioturbation robustly triggers a net decrease in the size of the global oxygen reservoir—the magnitude of which is contingent upon the prescribed difference in carbon to phosphorus ratios between bioturbated and laminated sediments. Bioturbation also reduces steady-state marine phosphate levels, but this effect is offset by the decline in iron-adsorbed phosphate burial that results from a decrease in oxygen concentrations. The introduction of oxygen-sensitive bioturbation to dynamical model runs is sufficient to trigger a negative feedback loop: the intensity of bioturbation is limited by the oxygen decrease it initially causes. The onset of this feedback is consistent with redox variations observed during the early Cambrian rise of bioturbation, leading us to suggest that bioturbation helped to regulate early oxygen and phosphorus cycles.

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Figure 1: Redox proxy data is consistent with decreased oxygenation of the marine environment following the early Cambrian increase in bioturbation.
Figure 2: Modelled steady-state oxygen/phosphorus reservoir sizes as a function of bioturbation.
Figure 3: Examples of the dynamic model response to the introduction of oxygen-sensitive bioturbation.
Figure 4: Net change in steady-state oxygen and phosphate reservoirs due to the introduction of dynamical oxygen-sensitive bioturbation.

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Acknowledgements

R.A.B., T.M.L. and G.A.S-Z. gratefully acknowledge funding from the National Environment Research Council (NE/I005978/1). T.W.D. was sponsored from the Inge Lehmann Scholarship and the VILLUM Foundation (VKR023127). M.Z. is funded by the National Basic Research Program of China (2013CB835000) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (40930211). A.W.D. was supported by the SFB754, funded by the German DFG (www.sfb754.de).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biology and Nordic Centre for Earth Evolution, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M, Odense, Denmark

    R. A. Boyle, T. W. Dahl & D. E. Canfield

  2. Laver Building, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, North Park Road, Exeter EX4 4QE, UK

    R. A. Boyle & T. M. Lenton

  3. Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 København K, Denmark

    T. W. Dahl

  4. GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, 24148 Kiel, Germany

    A. W. Dale

  5. Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    G. A. Shields-Zhou

  6. Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China

    M. Zhu

  7. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3AN, UK

    M. D. Brasier

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Contributions

R.A.B., T.M.L., G.A.S-Z. and M.Z. developed the hypothesis, including ideas from all co-authors. T.W.D. provided data. R.A.B. modified the original model of T.M.L. R.A.B. wrote the paper with input from all co-authors.

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Correspondence to R. A. Boyle.

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Boyle, R., Dahl, T., Dale, A. et al. Stabilization of the coupled oxygen and phosphorus cycles by the evolution of bioturbation. Nature Geosci 7, 671–676 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2213

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