Biooceanography articles within Nature Geoscience

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  • News & Views |

    Phytoplankton form the base of the marine food web, but their growth in nutrient-depleted surface waters has remained a puzzle. Two complementary studies suggest that ocean eddies help to control phytoplankton growth and distribution in unexpected ways.

    • Richard G. Williams

  • Article |

    Low levels of biologically available forms of nitrogen can limit phytoplankton growth. Isotopic analyses of seawater samples collected from the Sargasso Sea in the summer suggest that small phytoplankton obtain half of their nitrogen from upwelled nitrate.

    • Sarah E. Fawcett
    • , Michael W. Lomas
    •  & Daniel M. Sigman

  • Letter |

    Blooms of the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Trichodesmium, which fuel primary production in tropical and subtropical waters, require large quantities of iron. Laboratory incubations suggest that Trichodesmium accelerates the dissolution of iron oxides and dust, increasing the rate of iron uptake.

    • Maxim Rubin
    • , Ilana Berman-Frank
    •  & Yeala Shaked

  • News & Views |

    Animals originated in a world with marine oxygen levels only a fraction of those found in today's oceans. Observations of microbial habitats in present-day lagoons suggest that early animals could have found refuge in oxygen-producing mats.

    • Jake Bailey

  • News & Views |

    The neurotoxin methylmercury accumulates in marine biota and their predators. An analysis of seabird egg shells suggests that sea-ice cover reduces the breakdown of this highly toxic compound in sea water.

    • Joel D. Blum

  • News & Views |

    Mineral dust and biological particles of terrestrial origin initiate ice formation in the atmosphere. Laboratory experiments suggest that ocean diatoms are another potential source of ice nuclei in clouds.

    • Ottmar Möhler
    •  & Corinna Hoose

  • Article |

    Atmospheric deposition of mercury to remote areas has increased threefold since pre-industrial times. Reductions in sea-ice cover accelerate the photodegradation of biologically accessible mercury in Arctic waters, according to an analysis of the isotopic composition of bird eggs in northern latitudes.

    • D. Point
    • , J. E. Sonke
    •  & P. R. Becker

  • News & Views |

    The existence of a microbial community in the ocean crust has long been hypothesized. Isotopic evidence indicates that a deep biosphere of microbes both scrubs oceanic fluids of organic matter and produces new, yet old, organic carbon in situ.

    • Katrina J. Edwards

  • Letter |

    Biogenic aerosol particles of terrestrial origin, including bacteria and pollen, trigger ice formation in the atmosphere. Laboratory experiments reveal that biogenic particles of marine origin also initiate ice formation under typical tropospheric conditions.

    • D. A. Knopf
    • , P. A. Alpert
    •  & J. Y. Aller

  • Letter |

    Archaea are prevalent in the deep sea, and comprise a major fraction of the biomass in marine sediments. 13C-labelling experiments on the sea floor suggest that benthic archaea use sedimentary organic compounds to construct their membranes.

    • Yoshinori Takano
    • , Yoshito Chikaraishi
    •  & Naohiko Ohkouchi

  • Commentary |

    The Census of Marine Life has succeeded in raising awareness about marine biodiversity, and contributed much to our understanding of what lives where. But the project has fallen short of its goal to estimate species abundance.

    • Daniel Pauly
    •  & Rainer Froese

  • Editorial |

    The foundation of the marine food web is faltering, according to a century-long data set.

  • News & Views |

    Many species of nannoplankton with carbonate shells vanished during the mass extinction 65 million years ago. An analysis of extinction rates from the world's oceans reveals a geographic bias in the demise and recovery of nannoplankton species.

    • Paul B. Wignall

  • News & Views |

    The effect of rising greenhouse-gas emissions on climate is not uniform across the globe. An analysis of the mechanisms behind model-projected changes in ocean temperature gives greater confidence in the pattern of tropical warming and its potential impacts.

    • Amy C. Clement
    • , Andrew C. Baker
    •  & Julie Leloup

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